


Just a Simple Hybrid AU Fanfic

by ShyAFWriter



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hybrids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-04-17 15:41:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21732781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAFWriter/pseuds/ShyAFWriter
Summary: Hybrids are illegal - it's been that way for years. But a ragtag group of hybrids have managed to evade capture this long. The world's been beating them down since they were born - perhaps it's time to hit back.IMPORTANT: This fic has been rewritten in light of recent events.Also, it was given a soft rewrite to respect Lindsay's preferred gender identity. If I missed anything, please let me know. One minor plot detail was changed.
Relationships: Lindsay Tuggey Jones/Michael Jones
Comments: 26
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing fanfics for a while now, but I've never had it in me to share them until now. I figured it's high time I opened myself up to some criticism - who knows, maybe someone out there will like what I've vomited onto Word over the past few months.
> 
> I started writing this fic after noticing a stark lack of hybrid AUs containing more recent additions to the AH cast. Unfortunately I didn't include Fiona in this fic but I don't feel that I know her personality well enough to write, though that's not to say I can't add her eventually if there's demand. Credit to padalickingood for the AU, though Alfredo's heritage (I think that's what they call them in RWBY anyway) is my own devising.
> 
> So anyway, if people like it, I'll share more. Unfortunately I can't dedicate myself to an update schedule, life is unpredictable and busy as hell these days.

Gavin grabs the tiles and hoists himself up, onto the roof. There, the icy wind bites at his ears and whistles through his messy hair. He doesn’t mind though. Instead, he turns to face the wind, breathing the cold in and out for a moment as he closes his eyes. Near instinctively, he crouches at the roof’s edge, holding on with one hand as he spreads his wings wide behind him.

Feeling the wind rush through his feathers is a rare blessing, even if it isn’t a real flight. Gavin doesn’t even remember the last time he flew, or even glided more than a few metres. How wonderful it would be to stand and step off the edge and beat his wings and fly.

“Ballsy move, Free.”

Gavin opens his eyes and peers down to see Alfredo and Jeremy stood watching him. Alfredo is a taller young man, with sunkissed skin and dark eyes. His hair is sleek and jet black, and he wears dark jeans below a thick coat. Alfredo’s heritage is that of a black jackal, and as such on his head perches two long, dark jackal ears, though one ducks into his hair for warmth. His thin, furry black tail pulls close to his hips for the same reason.

Jeremy, on the other hand, is on the shorter side, but well built. His head is shaved, save some stubble on his chin. It makes the extremely fluffy grey-white ears atop his head even more noticeable. Jeremy opted for a shirt and jacket, despite the cold, and his explosion of fluff that he calls his tail has no reason to fear the cold. For a heritage of an animal that lives so close to the equator, that is, a chinchilla, Jeremy is shockingly unaffected by the climate.

Alfredo smiles, though Jeremy looks a little more concerned.

“Geoff isn’t here,” Gavin says, almost moaning.

“Geoff isn’t the problem. If anyone sees you, we’re fucked,” Jeremy says.

“We’re a million miles from anything.”

“We can’t risk it.”

Gavin groans, stands and steps off the roof, beating his huge golden brown wings twice to slow his fall. He lands lightly before Alfredo and Jeremy, and tucks his wings back close for warmth. “Any news?”

Alfredo shrugs. “Not yet. But Lindsay’s almost done cooking, if you’re hungry?”

Gavin looks back up to the roof. Jeremy notes the longing in his eyes. He can’t truly relate, but he has experienced the penning up of his own instincts and urges before, and he can only assume that’s how Gavin feels: trapped, in a way.

Jeremy pats his arm leading him inside the cabin. “Come on. The others will be home soon.”

Inside the cabin is a comfy but hectic open-planned space. The door opens into the kitchen, with counters around the far and right hand walls, as well as a fridge-freezer, an oven and a sink with a drying rack. In the middle of the kitchen stands a rather large island, surrounded by stools. The table is rarely used for eating, but more for planning. Behind the kitchen is a small bathroom with a shower. Gavin can hear someone showering.

The rest of the space is a large living area, doubled as a bedroom. Beams hang over the living area, from one of which a red hammock hangs. Gavin made it, and it’s where he prefers to sleep. Below it, three couches surround a small coffee table, which in turn stands before a stone fireplace. There’s always a fire burning, and for now at least it burns bright and healthy. There’s a wooden chair in one corner of the room, and at the moment, several blankets are somewhat folded on top of it.

Lindsay stands in the kitchen, muttering a song and swaying as they season the frying game, the scent of which fills the cabin. Lindsay is an excellent cook. They wears a loose-fitting top and cardigan, both black and white, with black jeans that descend into knee-height boots. Their hair is a faded-red into brown, and on top perch two large ears coated with red fur, not entirely dissimilar in shape from Alfredo’s. The tail that raises the bottom of Lindsay's cardigan, currently wagging with the song they sing, competes with Jeremy’s in terms of fluffiness, however. Lindsay's heritage is a red husky, and it suits them well.

Up in the beams, Lindsay's fiancé Michael sits, with one leg and a slim orange tail hanging down. His hair is a curly brown, and within it sit two little orange-furred ears. He wears a simple white t-shirt, thick blue jeans and large brown boots.

“Smells great, Lindsay,” Alfredo says, shrugging off his coat. He throws it on the rack before rolling onto one of the couches.

“Thank you,” Lindsay sings. Gavin can’t deny it, it smells divine, but his heritage is that of a herbivore, and as such, he is naturally put off meat. A shame, since it’s almost exclusively their only food source.

“Geoff home yet?” Michael asks.

“Nah, we didn’t see him,” Jeremy says. 

Michael nods, then notes the snow caught in Gavin’s wings, not quite melted yet. He raises an eyebrow. “Flying?”

Gavin draws his wings in closer and dodges eye contact. “No. Just… stretching my wings. Speaking of,” he says, spreading his wings and beating twice. He’s lifted up, landing with near-perfect balance to perch on the beam beside Michael. “This is my spot.”

“You can have it if you can take it off me.”

“I could do that.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Michael smirks.

Gavin laughs at the challenge, brings his right wing around him so that it almost touches his folded left wing, and then quickly spreads it, beating outwards. The wing whacks into Michael on its way, and it’s more the surprise that causes him to lose his balance than the actual force. He slips down, landing with a thud on his feet below the beam.

“He could. He could do that,” Michael says as he dusts himself off and joins Lindsay in the kitchen. Gavin smirks as he brings his wing back to straighten the feathers.

“I’m so bored,” Alfredo murmurs. “Wish I could go hunting…”

“Well, read one of Geoff’s books,” Jeremy suggests as he slumps on one of the other couches.

Alfredo looks as him as if he’d just told some strange joke. “I can barely read a sentence.”

“And that’s all you need to do. Read a sentence, then another, then another, and so on.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Geoff’s got an encyclopaedia on different species. He reads it every time someone joins us, so he can understand us better. You should find the jackal section – you might learn something about yourself. I did.”

“What’d you learn?”

“I learned why I have a bad habit of chewing.”

“Is that all?”

“Dude, I’m a fucking chinchilla hybrid. What do you want from me?”

“I don’t know, man, you’re just not selling it to me.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it either,” Gavin says, “Larks, not interesting creatures. At all.”

“One day, you’re going to break that beam and kill whoever’s sat under it,” Jeremy says.

“Probably me…” Alfredo murmurs.

The bathroom door unlocks, and a man with long wavy brown hair steps out, drying the black and white ears on his head with a towel. He wears an old pair of glasses, and has a scraggly beard. His clothes are almost all black – the only colour being a light grey zip-up hoodie. From beneath it, a black and white badger tail falls.

“Shower’s free,” he says.

“Matt, put some god-damn shoes on! Some of us eat in here!” Michael hisses.

Matt flips him off as he checks the windows. The light is just beginning to fade as the sun sets. “The others are a little late, aren’t they?”

Lindsay chuckles, never one to let worry bother them. “They’ll be home soon – Jack knows I’m cooking tonight.” But in the back of their mind, Lindsay does worry, as the others do. It’s a scenario they’d often planned for, but nobody really knows what they’d do if it happened.

The very existence of hybrids is illegal, as it has been for the past few years. The government set up a highly-efficient agency to track and ‘contain’ hybrids, known simply as ‘the fuckers’ to Geoff. These men work fast, and have the support of the public. If anybody saw the other members of their group, they wouldn’t be coming home.

But thinking like that doesn’t get you through the day, so Lindsay begins their song again and dishes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little world-building while I test the waters; I swear it gets more exciting than this XD.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was saving this for next week but I realised that for the next few days I'm going to be so busy I won't have time to post, and I'd rather be early than late. Anyway, here you go.

“Stop the car!”

Trevor slams the breaks immediately, startled by the urgency in Geoff’s voice. Everyone is thrown forward, and Jack almost curses as he loses his drink. Geoff clambers out of the vehicle without another word, leaving the rest of his crew to offer confused faces to each other before they too climb out.

When Trevor slams his door shut, Geoff’s kneeling at the road they were about to pull onto. Geoff is pushing his fourth decade, but looks worn for his age, with thinning black hair and a stern face. From his skull protrude the horns of a ram, with a hidden tail to match. His arms and torso, though currently hidden by his thick brown coat, are coated with tattoos from his youth. He frowns. “Tracks,” he says.

“Tyre tracks?” Trevor asks. A stark opposite, Trevor is youthful, and looks it. Kinder years have found him than Geoff. His hair, also black, is thick, and almost hides his small, black, round ears. Both men are tall, though Trevor just beats Geoff. He wears black and white, matching the furry grey tail he no longer bothers to hide beneath his coat.

“Looks like they’re heading east,” Geoff says. He stands and returns to the car. “Come on, let’s follow.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Trevor says. “Those tyres could be from anything or anyone. It’s a road – people other than us are going to use it.”

“This is the first lead I’ve had since we’ve arrived!” Geoff snaps back.

“It’s not much of a lead. Besides, it’s already late. We left our best trackers back at the cabin, and not all of us can see in the dark. If you’re wrong, we could end up lost, and if you’re right, for all we know they could ambush us,” Trevor argues.

Geoff turns his attention to Jack, expecting at least him to understand. Jack, the final member of their group, was a lion hybrid, with an impressive mane that he tries to maintain to appear as a beard. His hair is red, and with his heritage put aside, he appears an approachable man. To Geoff, all Jack can do is sigh and say, “Nah, the kid’s right. We’re not prepared.”

Geoff nearly growls. “You all realise that every second we don’t find these fuckers is another second they could be doing God-knows-what to our loved ones, don’t you?”

“And every stupid choice we make is another chance we might never free them,” Trevor spits in a rare display of anger.

Jack steps between the two, patting Geoff’s shoulder. “We’ll send scouts out tomorrow. If there’s any trace of anyone, Lindsay, Michael and Alfredo will find it. We’ll take it from there.”

By the time they reach the cabin, the sun has fallen, and the warm lights of the wooden structure have never looked so inviting. Trevor parks up and switches off the engine, and they climb out. Jack empties the boot of the car, and the four enter their home.

They’re greeted by an uproar of laughter. Not directed at them, but at Alfredo, who sits by the fireplace with his head in his hands. The six of them are sat in a rough circle around a board game – a game Alfredo was evidently losing. Badly.

When the laughter dies down a little, they manage to greet the arriving members of their group. Gavin waves them over to join him, though Geoff politely shakes his head and helps Jack sort their haul.

Trevor slides into the circle between Alfredo and Matt. “What happened?”

“THESE!” Alfredo grabs the two die from the board. “These fucking things hate me!”

“He’s rolled blank four times in a row,” Jeremy explains.

Trevor chuckles. “Happens to the best of us, man.”

“Trev, come play for me,” Lindsay says, “I’m going to get your dinner warmed up.”

Trevor thanks them as they swap places, and as Lindsay enters the kitchen they peak at the items Geoff and Jack are sorting. “Anything for me?” Lindsay asks.

“We got a scarf?” Geoff offers.

“I’ll take it. You were late back,” Lindsay comments, throwing four steaks back into the frying pan.

“We got held up,” Jack says.

“And we found a lead.” Geoff adds.

Lindsay’s eyes grow wide. “You found something?”

“We’re not sure,” Jack says. “You’re supposed to be hunting with us tomorrow?”

“Alfredo and I, yes.”

“Any chance we can have you up bright and early to check it out?”

“Fine by me! Fredo’s going stir-crazy anyway – the longer he’s out of the house, the better.”

Geoff pours another whiskey and sits at the bar, tapping the glass gently. Before him, in the living area, his rag-tag group sleeps, with faint snores rising from a few of them, and a more pronounced snore coming from Jeremy, who was lying on a pile of blankets on the floor.

Beside him, on one of the couches, an unconscious Michael looks agitated. His tail, hanging from the sofa, flicks occasionally in response to the snores. But in his arms, Lindsay is cuddled close to him.

The two souls lucky enough to occupy the other two couches tonight are Alfredo and Matt. That leaves Jack curled up on the floor in the corner with a blanket, leaving a chair free for when Geoff decides to sleep.

Above them, in the beams, Gavin lies wrapped up in the hammock he made for himself. One wing is draped over him for warmth, while the other spreads and hangs down, with the edge-most feather almost tickling Alfredo’s nose.

Geoff feels a pang of pride, looking over his group of misfits. When the world had shunned them, and cast them aside, they’d found each other, supported each other, and they were doing okay. But he doesn’t linger on the feeling, and instead sips his drink.

Perhaps that’s the reason he’s surprised when the cabin door opens and closes quietly and quickly, though enough to send a chill through the room.

Trevor shrugs off the cold, clutching something Geoff can’t quite make out in his arms. “Little late for grocery shopping, ain’t it?” Geoff asks.

Trevor smiles and shrugs. “Fire was getting a little dim.”

“You were chopping firewood? It’s pitch black out there,” Geoff says.

Trevor throws a log or two into the fire, and places the rest close by before he returns to the kitchen. “Anteaters are nocturnal.”

“Are they really?”

Trevor looks surprised as he gives a slight nod and sits beside Geoff. “Yeah.”

Geoff ponders this new information, before shrugging and taking a swig of whiskey. “Huh.”

Trevor sheds his coat, placing it on the stool beside him before resting his arms on the table. After a moment of silence, bar the snores and the crackling fire, Trevor says, “You should sleep, Geoff. I’ll sleep in the morning.”

“Oh I’ve tried. Too much to worry about.”

“You worry an unhealthy amount. We’re not kids, Geoff, we’re grown men. And we all know what this world is like. We can take care of ourselves.”

Geoff shrugs and looks down. “Yeah, I know. Just… force of habit, you know.”

Trevor looks to the fire, realising what he’s stumbled upon. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“They took my mom, too. We’ll find ‘em. God knows, I’m not going to rest until we do.”

“No. Never.”

They sit in sombre silence for a while. Geoff contemplates. He contemplates his past, his plan, what the future might be.

“How did you find these guys?” Trevor asks. “They’re good people.”

“It’s a long story. I’ve known Jack a long time. When they came for us… He got me out of there. I fought against him with everything I had, but he got me to safety and cleared my head. We were alone for a while. Maybe a year? When I was out hunting food, I saw something fall into the forest. Found Gavin with a snapped wing. He was running from them – said they’d captured him in England and shipped him over. I don’t know how the hell he got out of there. I was going to leave him there. He wasn’t my problem, and we struggled to eat already. But I saw something in his eyes. I don't know, maybe it was just pity. I dragged his ass back to Jack, and since then I’ve taken him under my wing. Pardon the pun. I guess he got under my skin.

“Few months after that, Michael shows up. He says he tracked us. A ‘cat thing’, he said. Whatever the fuck that means. Jack obviously welcomed him with open arms. We found Lindsay somewhere in the south 'bout two years ago. Michael almost killed Jeremy on a hunt – all he saw were his ears and I guess he was in ‘cat mode’, too excited or too far gone to realise real rodents don’t usually have ears the same size as themselves. Matt was with Jeremy. And Alfredo… well, he tracked Lindsay home from a hunt and just showed up. I came home and he was sat around a fire eating a kebab with Gavin and Michael.”

“But you let him stay,” Trevor says, smiling.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t been in control for a while. He’s useful, anyway. Good hunter.”

“Undoubtedly. So… what’s your plan, anyway? These ‘leads’ that you’re looking for, where do you think they’ll take you?”

Geoff shrugs. “The plan’s simple: find wherever they’re keeping everyone. Somehow. I’m certain it’s up here. Probably in the middle of nowhere.”

“You can use me,” a sheepish, tired voice says. They look up, and see Gavin watching them. His eyes are still tired, and he hasn’t lifted his head yet.

“Absolutely not!”

“But weren’t you just talking about how useful Alfredo is? I could be useful too, if you’d let me.”

“It’s out of the question, Gavin. Go back to sleep.”

“Geoff,” Trevor says, “He can handle himself.”

Geoff scoffs. “When was the last time you even flew? Let alone in this weather?!”

“When was the last time you let me?” Gavin asks.

“Geoff, didn’t you tell me earlier that every second we don’t find this place they could be doing anything to our loved ones? Gavin is probably our best bet at finding them, you know. It’s strange you won’t employ him.” Trevor says.

“We are not having this discussion. Sleep, Gavin. I’m gonna hit the hay myself.”

“But…!”

“Conversation’s over, Gav.”

Geoff wakes the next morning just before sunrise. Or rather, he’s awoken by Jack. “We’re ready to go,” Jack says as Geoff blinks at him. He nudges his head back, motioning to Lindsay and Alfredo, already dressed for the cold outside. They’re speaking in low voices with Trevor, probably to avoid disturbing others.

“Right, right.” Geoff drags himself to his feet, stretching and clicking his joints. “Better get moving.”

Geoff is ready to leave not five minutes later. He and Jack are the first to walk out of the door with a quick goodbye to Trevor. Trevor responds in kind, and asks them to be careful. Geoff doesn’t respond, but Jack gives a thumbs up.

Lindsay and Alfredo rise from their seats at the island to follow. “Wake me up before you go hunting, yeah?” Trevor asks.

“Sure, no problem,” Lindsay says. They wave before heading outside.

Trevor grabs Alfredo’s wrist as he moves to follow, and stands to whisper directly in his ear: “I’m serious. Don’t let Geoff come home early. If he does, you need to run ahead and warn us. I know you can outrun him.”

“I got it, don’t worry.” Alfredo glances to Gavin, still sound asleep but with his wings tucked tight behind his back now. “Good luck,” he says.


	3. Chapter 3

“You good?” Michael asks. Gavin can’t even begin to describe how he feels, faced with his first flight in longer than he can remember. His wings are spread, taking in the wind, but also judging its speed. But he’s still nervous. Nervous of fucking up, of crashing, of Geoff.

Gavin offers a slight nod and says, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Okay,” Trevor calls from the ground, “Remember what we talked about, Gavin. Fly up, do a few circles, then come back down and land safely, yeah? Don’t take any risks – Geoff’s right, you’ve never flown in this climate before, and it can be difficult. Got it?”

Gavin nods again.

“Alright, then whenever you’re ready.”

Michael pats his shoulder, and Gavin throws his scarf over his shoulder. Once Michael gracefully climbs down to the earth to stand with the others, Gavin backs up, takes a few deep, calming breaths, leans forward to keep his wings streamlined, and then sprints for the edge.

As he pushes off, he beats his wings, and they lift him high. And then, he’s flying.

“You got the shot?” Geoff murmurs quietly.

Beside him, Alfredo almost laughs as he aims the rifle. “Do I?” Then, he shoots, and the moose goes down. “WHOO!”

“Good shooting,” Geoff says. He cautiously clambers down the tree as Lindsay runs to fetch the kill. Alfredo is not so careful, and slides down the trunk to half way before springing off and landing. He throws the gun back to Geoff before they follow Lindsay.

“We’re eating good tonight, boys,” Lindsay smirks.

“So good,” Alfredo adds, judging the meat on his kill.

Geoff rolls his eyes when he notes that both Lindsay and Alfredo are wagging their tails and virtually drooling at the corpse. “Y’all are bloodthirsty motherfuckers,” he says, “Think you can hold back until someone cooks it, maybe?”

“Uh… Geoff…” Jack calls. Geoff looks back to their lagging friend, who points to the sky. Geoff squints, and it’s difficult to see thanks to the foliage, but eventually, he does see the silhouette of a bird hybrid soaring roughly above the cabin.

“Gavin…!” Geoff snarls.

Before he can run, Alfredo grabs his arm. “Wait!”

Geoff rounds on him. “Did you know about this?”

Alfredo backs up and raises his hands. “Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with this. Trevor just wanted some pr…”

“TREVOR?!”

“I’ve said too much!”

Geoff growls, “I’ll deal with you later,” and turns to sprint. Alfredo grabs him again, but when Geoff looks back his words falter, and instead he tries to bolt home and warn Trevor.

He doesn’t make it far, running into Jack in his panic. Alfredo is tall, and rarely cowed based on someone’s build alone, but Jack is a giant of a man, and clearly stronger. Not to mention, Alfredo may as well be looking into the pissed off eyes of a real lion for the fear it instils in him. His ears flatten instinctively, and he ducks his eyes. Jackals do not provoke lions, and for good reason. Behind him, even Lindsay tucks their tail.

“Bring the kill back home, Jack. And make sure Trevor’s lapdog here doesn’t go anywhere,” Geoff says.

Gavin soars, taking deep breaths as he does. The air up here is different. Purer, perhaps. He watches the little trees drift below him as he stretches his wings and arms, feeling the air rush through his fingers and feathers. It’s the most free he’s felt in years.

He turns and soars back towards the cabin, gradually gaining speed as he loses altitude. When he’s close enough that he can see the others waiting for him, he draws his wings in and plummets towards them, finally pulling up and spreading them suddenly to slow his fall, before he begins to beat them and hover in place before them a few metres higher than the roof.

The others cheer him, turning him red before he calls down, “I think I still got it, Trevor!”

Trevor gives him a thumbs up, and Michael shouts: “How’s the view?”

“Amazing!”

“A little cold?” Trevor asks.

“I’m okay! I’m better than okay! Look at me!”

“Kinda wish I was a bird hybrid now,” Matt mutters to Jeremy. “But, like, an owl or something.”

“Nah, a trash bear suits you,” Jeremy laughs.

“Hey!” Matt huffs. “You know, badgers are actually quite respectable. They’re good for the environment.”

“Ah, I knew you liked them really,” Jeremy says.

“GAVIN!”

Gavin shudders when he hears Geoff’s enraged shout. For a moment, his wings fail, and he falls, quickly beating his wings to slow himself. He lands somewhat ungracefully in the snow, looks to Geoff and quickly tucks his wings away behind his back again.

Geoff searches the crowd, then suddenly sprints, horns down, at Trevor. Trevor dives out of the way, and Michael is able to tackle Geoff into the snow. The cat hybrid climbs above the struggling ram hybrid down and pins him down. 

“Geoff, calm down, it’s not what it looks like,” Michael grunts.

“I’ve seen all I need to see.” Geoff shoves Michael away, climbs to his feet and points to Trevor. “You!”

“Listen, we were just training him in these conditions. He didn’t go far.”

“I don’t care if he went to Narnia. Point is, anybody could have seen him!”

“Nobody saw me,” Gavin says, approaching cautiously.

“And you’re sure of that?” Geoff snaps. Gavin splutters and backs up a little. “I can’t believe you’d be so careless and stupid. You could have gotten us all captured! In fact, yes I can! I can believe it, because that’s all you’ve been since the day we met! Careless and stupid! You’re fucking bird-brained!”

Tears well in Gavin’s eyes, but he wipes them away quickly, scowls and turns.

“Wait,” Geoff says hurriedly, too late, as Gavin begins to run. His wings rise, and as they descend he pushes himself into the air. “Wait, Gavin!” Geoff cries, catching his foot. Gavin’s wings aren’t quite strong enough to carry them both, even when they beat harder. He’s forced to look at Geoff, who’s almost crying himself. “Gav, I didn’t mean it!”

Gavin gulps back his tears. “I heard you. I’m not your pet and I’m not going to let you hold me down any longer! Let go before I make you!”

“Gavin-” Geoff begins, but he’s interrupted by a kick to the head. He lets go, and Gavin propels himself towards the sun.


	4. Chapter 4

“He can’t have gone far,” Matt reassures Geoff.

“Can’t he? He’s flying!” Geoff snaps, pacing back and forth across the cabin floor.

“Geoff, come on,” Michael says, “He hasn’t been on his own since he was, what, fourteen? Fifteen? He’ll come home.”

“I don’t doubt that he intends to come home eventually,” Geoff growls, “It’s those fuckers – they could be anywhere, and they’re looking for us! If they see him, even catch a glimpse of him, he’s not coming home whether he likes it or not!”

“And what do you want us to do about it?” Trevor asks. “We can’t track him.”

“You don’t get to talk!” Geoff snarls. Trevor allows the slight – his mind is clear enough to understand Geoff’s words come from blind panic. Beside him, however, Alfredo lets out a growl.

“Geoff,” Jack says calmly. “Trevor’s not the reason he’s gone.”

“Believe me, I fucking know.”

“If you want, I’ll drive around, see if we can spot him,” Lindsay offers.

“Matt and I will go too,” Jeremy says.

“Thanks for volunteering me there, man,” Matt says.

“Anytime.”

“I’ll go too,” Alfredo says through gritted teeth.

“No, no, absolutely not,” Geoff says, “No one else is leaving today. I won’t risk it.”

“With all due respect, Geoff, our freedom isn’t yours to gamble,” Trevor says.

“No, but I’ll sure as hell be paying for it if anything happens to you,” Geoff says. “I lost my whole family once – I couldn’t do anything for them. I consider you all to be my second family, and I’ll be damned before I lose anyone else. I don’t care how much you all hate me for it.”

Geoff sighs. He’s not happy, but he concedes. “Fine. Then I suppose it’s decided – we’ll wait it out.”

Alfredo growls and immediately leaves, leaving a stunned silence in the room.

“Fredo!”

Jack shakes his head. “Let him go, Geoff, he won’t go far. Just let him cool off, yeah? He’s still upset about what you said.”

“Why? What’d you say to him, Geoff?” Trevor asks.

“I… I was mad. I called him your lapdog.”

Michael almost laughs. “Jeez, Gav’s bird-brained and Fredo’s a lapdog? You’re full of it today, Geoffrey.”

“Shut up,” Geoff sighs, “I’ll go talk to him.”

He finds Alfredo disembowelling their earlier kill on the table outside the cabin. Geoff watches for a short while. He knows Alfredo knows he’s there – he hears everything and can probably smell who it is. His ignorance is intentional. After the guts are gone, Alfredo gets to skinning the animal – he’s highly skilled in the practise, though Geoff isn’t sure if the skill was learned or self-taught. Come to think of it, Geoff doesn’t know much about Alfredo at all, other than that he was alone for a long time.

“Two whole families,” Alfredo eventually scoffs. “Must be nice.”

“You don’t see us as family?” Geoff asks. Alfredo doesn’t respond. “Listen, Fredo. What I said was out of order. That’s not how I see you.”

“Really?” Alfredo drops his blade and rounds on Geoff. “You know, before I found you, I’d been reduced to nothing but a mutt my entire life. I didn’t get some cushy life for thirty years like you and Jack. I never had a nice home in some little suburban neighbourhood. From the moment I was born I was nothing but an animal in the eyes of everyone around me. I lived in chains! I lived on the street! I was bought and sold like cattle! When I met you, I finally thought I belonged somewhere. I thought you’d see me as me.”

“You do belong,” Geoff argues, keeping his voice low. “You know you’re valued here. Trev, Michael, Gavin and everyone else love you.”

“I know. And I love them. But what about you? In the space of an hour you reduced not one but two of us to animals. Worse, you reduced me to Trevor’s pet.” Alfredo stands before Geoff, locking eyes with him. “I love Trevor as a brother, but I don’t belong to him. And I certainly don’t belong to you, or anyone else.”

“I respect that.”

“Do you? Because the more I think about it, the more I realise you’ve done nothing but treat me like a sniffer dog. Lindsay too. You send Matt and Jack and Michael to scope the place out if you don’t feel safe at night. You wanted to drag Trevor and Jack on a suicide mission to follow those tracks just last night. And if you’re worried you’ll get attacked, Jeremy is always there. You think you’re leading us, but really, I think, deep down you think you own us.”

“Fredo, that’s not…”

“And you gamble with everyone! Everyone except Gavin. No one can touch precious Gavin, not even Gavin himself. You have a vice-like grip on him! I’m not surprised he flew away – if I were him I would have done a long time ago. You didn’t stop the search party because you were worried about our safety – you stopped it because you’re scared Gavin will see us and fly the other way.”

Geoff sighs. “Gavin doesn’t have the skills needed to survive. The rest of you do, and I trust you.”

“Doesn’t have the skills?! He can fly!”

“He couldn’t when I met him.”

Alfredo’s eyes narrow. “You’re projecting something onto him… Gavin was the first of us you found, wasn’t he? How soon after the bill passed?”

“That’s not important,” Geoff growls.

“Not important?! You’re not dealing with something, and now Gavin’s gone, after you treated him like…!” Alfredo pauses, and then he realises. “You lost a kid…”

“Are you suggesting I replaced my daughter with Gavin?!”

“I’m suggesting your daughter left a huge hole and you’re using Gavin to fill it.”

“Like you don’t have issues.”

“Yeah, issues that I’m dealing with! Hence this entire conversation! Geoff, this isn’t healthy. If you love us, hell, even if you only love Gavin, you should address them. Talk to Jack, or Lindsay, or Gavin. Fucking rant at me if you really need to – I don’t care, anyone!” Alfredo takes a deep breath to calm himself. “Just, take it from me. I never had anyone before you guys, so I had no choice but to bottle things up. It doesn’t make things easier, it just drives you crazy. Talking to you, and Michael, who had similar experiences, it helped me figure it out and put it behind me.”

“None of you know what it’s like to lose a kid,” Geoff sighs. “Shit hurts. Like someone ripped a hole out of your heart.”

“You’re right. No one’s lost a kid. But Trevor, Matt, Jeremy, they lost family too.” Alfredo cuts Geoff off before he can respond. “And don’t say ‘they didn’t lose a kid’. It’s not a competition – I’ve seen it enough to know all grief is tragic.”

“You had it rough, growing up, didn’t you?” Geoff adjusts his shoulders as if there were something uncomfortable on them. “Them that have it rough, they can always knock sense into you. Least it was you instead of Michael – he might have literally knocked sense into me, and for a lesser crime.” He places a hand on Alfredo’s shoulder. “You’re no animal – not in my eyes. I’m sorry I ever suggested it. And you’ll always have a family here, if you want it. Now I’m going to go back inside, where it’s warm, and… well, figure out what to say to Gavin, if he comes back.”

“When he comes back.”

“…Yeah, when. Can I ask one favour?”

Alfredo raises an eyebrow and an ear.

“You, and Trevor, and Gavin, and whoever else was in on this plot to train Gavin up behind my back, you think you can be more honest with me?”

“You’d never have agreed.”

“Ah, Jack would have made me see straight, with so many of you in favour. Trevor’s right, anyway. My damn ‘leads’ never lead anywhere. If Gavin’s willing, he might be our only shot at finding this place and saving our kind.”

There’s a tense silence in the cabin that night as they eat. Alfredo finishes first, as usual given his taste for gamey meat, and notes that Geoff, sat in the corner on the wooden chair, hasn’t touched his food. His head is in his hands, and he’s clearly waiting.

He rises and heads to the kitchen to clean off his tin plate. There’s darkness outside – the sun set roughly half an hour ago. Alfredo begins to worry that perhaps something happened to Gavin. Or maybe he really isn’t coming back.

He dusts off the counter with his tail before jumping back to sit, watching out of the window while he runs his fingers through the fur of his tail to clean it off and brush it.

A few minutes later and there’s a soft thud on the roof. Everyone jumps, and Geoff finally stands.

“I need to talk to him.”

“Actually, maybe it’s better if I go first,” Michael says. “Warm him up for you, yeah?”

Geoff says nothing for a few moment, but eventually he reluctantly nods and sits back down. Michael throws his coat on and dashes outside.

Gavin shifts awkwardly as somebody climbs up onto the roof with him. He can’t see who it is, but he can take a good guess. Likely someone with a nocturnal heritage; someone who can see in the dark. And by the ease they climbed, Gavin guesses Michael.

He’s confirmed right when Michael sits down at the edge of the roof beside him. He doesn’t say anything.

“Is he mad at me?” Gavin asks.

“He still thinks you were wrong. But he’s more relieved you came home.”

“What he said hurt,” Gavin says.

“I know. But it was heat of the moment. He was scared for you when he said it.”

Gavin shifts his wings awkwardly. “I never had a dad, or family in general. Geoff’s the closest that I ever came. I’m scared of losing that, too. I just wish he’d trust me, even a little.”

“If it’s any condolence, Trevor feels awful about what happened. He didn’t expect Geoff to react like he did.”

“No, Trevor was right. I’m more useful to us in the air than hidden away.”

“You want to come inside?” Michael asks. Gavin pauses, nods and spreads his wings. Michael slides off the roof, landing on his feet. Moments later, Gavin swoops down, landing beside him.

Inside the cabin is still quiet. Quieter still, since people stopped eating. Geoff’s waiting nervously by the couches, and when the door opens and Gavin steps through, he immediately pulls him into a tight hug. “Gavin…”

Gavin’s eyes are wide for a moment, before he closes them and hugs back, even wrapping his wings around Geoff.

“I didn’t think you were coming home.”

“Where else would I go? This is the closest thing to a family I’ve ever had.”

Geoff pulls back and holds Gavin’s shoulders. “Listen to me. I was wrong, to prevent you from flying all this time. You were the first thing I loved after I lost everything, and I wanted to keep you safe. After you crashed, after finding you in that state, I persuaded myself you couldn’t be trusted to fly. I was wrong, I was just a coward afraid of losing everything again. That ends now. You’re going to spread those incredible wings and soar in the clouds like you were meant to. After we train you up, that is.”

“You’re not angry?”

“No.”

“And you’re letting me fly?”

“Yes.”

“No catch?”

“No catch. I’m going to take a step back from leadership, or whatever the fuck this is, and figure some shit out.” Geoff looks to Alfredo, who gives a reassuring nod. “Trev, I’m nominating you as new leader.”

The anteater hybrid splutters. “ME?!”

“Yeah. You’ve got the qualities of a good leader. We wouldn’t butt heads so much if you didn’t – it’s why I trust you.”

Trevor blushes, smiles in agreement and nods. “If there’s no objections, then sure, I’ll do my best. Until you’re ready to take the reigns again, that is. You’re a good man, Geoff. A good leader too.”

“I wish that were true.” Geoff pats Gavin’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you some food.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for three months, exam season and a hectic life. Anyway, I wrote this chapter months ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Alfredo's history and Geoff's motivation, even if the whole chapter turned out a bit angsty. Writing Geoff is always interesting and writing Fredo is a new experience that I'm loving, particulatly as I gave him the harshest background by far. He's taking more of a central role than I originally intended, but I am absolutely fine with that. I hope they're as fun to read as they were to write.
> 
> Now we have reached a time-jump between what I have published and what I have written. I really look forward to sharing the next chapter, though I'm considering refining or re-writing a lot of what is to come, as I'm not happy with where the plot went and I ended up with a terrible writer's block. Still, I'm hyped to see what people thought of this chapter and what you'll think of the next.


	5. Chapter 5

***5 weeks later***

“Michael, move a little over to the left!” Matt shouts.

Michael, stood on the roof of the cabin looking exceptionally tense, spreads his arms and shouts back, “Why?”

“It looks like Gavin would be able to fly easier there. No, not your left, my left!”

“Would you shut up and focus on spotting for me?!”

“Hey, if you don’t want to be up there, that’s cool, I can go ask Jeremy.”

Michael bites down an instinctive hiss and instead looks to the skies, where Gavin flies far above them. In truth, Michael can’t really see Gavin, only his large, spread wings against the bright sky. He knows Gavin can see him, though, and he raises his arm to signal to him.

Gavin’s wings collapse in almost immediately, letting him dive toward the cabin. Michael rocks on his feet in anticipation as he waits. When it’s clear to him that Gavin isn’t quite aiming for the cabin, but in fact just behind it, Michael turns away towards Matt and sprints for the edge of the roof. As he leaps, he hears the spread of wings behind him, and he reaches up as he begins to fall.

As he does, Gavin’s arms grab his, and the ground is pulled away from him as they soar onwards. Michael can’t help the scream he releases and clings as tight as he can. Gavin laughs and tilts his wings to slow down, dropping Michael onto the snow from a safe altitude while he lands a little further ahead.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, whoo!” Gavin cheers pumping his fist into the air and flapping his wings. “Aw, yes, that was amazing.”

“Good job, Gav… I need a minute…” Michael murmurs. He had landed on his feet safely, but now had collapsed into the snow.

Gavin laughs again and beats his wings, carrying himself to Michael’s side. Matt joins them and hi-fives Gavin, “Good job, man.” Then, Matt jabs Michael in the chest. “You almost kicked me.”

Michael almost laughs, but instead sighs and says, “I love the ground.”

“Come on, Michael, let’s do it again!”

“No, no, no, absolutely not!” Michael sits up and brushes the snow off himself. “No way. I did my part, now ask Jeremy or Trevor or someone.”

“Come on, man, you did good,” Matt says.

Michael eyes him closely. “You want to get up on that roof?”

“No, no, badgers don’t fly.”

“CATS DON’T FLY!”

“They land on their feet though.”

“Matt!” Trevor calls from the cabin door. “Did you check our comms yet?”

“Ah fuck! Coming!” Matt pat’s Michael’s shoulder and begins to make his way back to the cabin.

Gavin chuckles quietly, and at Michael’s raised eyebrow, he says, “Watch this.” Gavin spreads his wings wide and takes off, raising himself several metres above the ground before he swoops, grabbing Matt as he does.

“What the-” Matt gasps, before screaming and kicking his legs towards the ground. Gavin drops him at the door, swoops back around and lands beside him, laughing too much to get a word out.

“Gavin!”

“I can’t… I can’t…” Gavin chokes through his laughter, and bursts out again.

“I liked you better when you didn’t fly,” Matt says, but he does offer a small chuckle before he enters the cabin.

Trevor, Geoff and Jack are sat around the kitchen table, discussing quietly. Meanwhile, on the couch closest to the door, Jeremy and Alfredo are huddled over one of Geoff’s books, with Jeremy murmuring quietly. Another reading lesson, judging by Alfredo’s frustrated but focused look. Lindsay reads a different book on the opposite couch. When Trevor sees him, he directs Matt to the corner of the kitchen, where their earpieces wait for him. He picks them up and takes them to the wooden chair for testing.

As Matt sits down quietly, Michael and Gavin explode through the door, jostling with each other and laughing and shouting like children. Michael pauses first when he sees those gathered around the table glaring at them, and Gavin halts soon after, tucking in his wings and clearing his throat awkwardly. “Were we disturbing something?”

“Damn it!” Alfredo growls.

“No, no, no, you had it, you had it!” Jeremy says encouragingly. He shouts, “Assholes!” at Gavin and Michael, and turns back to the book, saying “Try again, you almost had it.”

“As a matter of fact, we’re ready to explain what’s going on,” Trevor says to Gavin. “You and everyone else, except Matt. You check them all first, okay Matt?”

“Hey, let Alfredo figure that word out, and then we’ll gather,” Jack says.

Alfredo immediately flushes and dips his ears when he feels all eyes turn to him. He closes the book, saying, “No, I’m good. Thanks, Jeremy.”

“But you almost had it! Never finish reading in the middle of a sentence!” Jeremy protests.

“I’ll just start that sentence over again next time.”

Jeremy sighs, but accepts defeat, puts the book to one side and joins the others in the kitchen, with Alfredo and Lindsay close behind him.

“The road to the north west, I’ve seen tyre tracks four times now,” Geoff begins. “Every time, I saw them on either Wednesday, or late Tuesday. So, I think there’s some sort of transit every Tuesday. The only thing around that would be that regular would be that prison, and lo and behold, it’s Tuesday tomorrow. We need to split up, we need to spread along that road, and we need to figure out who is travelling through, and which way they’re going.”

“We’ll go in twos and one three. Lindsay, you’re with Matt, Michael, you’re with Jeremy, Jack and Gavin, you’re with Geoff and Fredo, you’re coming with me. There’s four earpieces, so one person per team gets one. We get out there, position ourselves by sunrise, and we stay until either sunset or until we can track whatever vehicle passes through. Lindsay and Matt, you guys track the road as far west as you can, and Jack, Gav and Geoff will track it north. The rest of us will position ourselves between. Clear?”

The others nod.

“Good. Let’s hope this finally leads us somewhere. Get some rest, everyone.”


	6. Chapter 6

Jeremy halts Michael, and motions to the road. Michael focuses, and sees tire-tracks running down the road. “Nice spot,” he whispers to Jeremy.

“Ah, not really, I heard a something a few miles back and wanted to check it out.”

Michael rolls his eyes. “You hear fucking everything,” he says, flicking one of Jeremy’s large chinchilla ears.

“Hey, quit it!” Jeremy hisses. He taps the earpiece in his right human ear and says: “This is Jeremy checking in. We found recent tire tracks. Heading due west from our position. Over.”

When no reply comes, Jeremy repeats his message. There are a few more moments of silence. “Are the comms down?”

“Shouldn’t be – Matt checked them yesterday.”

Jeremy’s earpiece buzzes, and he hears: “Copy that. Geoff. Over.” That is the only message he recieves.

“Uh, did anybody hear from Trevor or Matt? Over.” Jeremy asks.

“No. Nothing. Over.” Geoff says.

Jeremy turns to Michael. “Which way did Trevor, Alfredo, Lindsay and Matt go?”

Michael ponders for a moment, before his eyes grow wide and fearful. “West. They went west!”

Michael grabs Jeremy, and the two begin to sprint westward after the tracks. Jeremy shouts over his earpiece. “Guys! We think the others are in trouble. We’re running now. Geoff, send Gavin asap!”

The reply returns: “Gavin’s airborne, I’m on my way.”

They meet Gavin on a hilltop, way above the road. Gavin is hidden low to the ground, and when Michael and Jeremy arrive, they too stay low, crawling to his side to watch the scene below.

“What’s happening?” Jeremy asks, squinting down at the black truck way down the road.

“Oh yeah, you guys can’t see…” Gavin murmurs. “There’s two soldiers – they’re armed. Matt, Alfredo, Trevor and Lindsay are unconscious and bound, but I don’t think they’re hurt.”

“Lindsay?!” Michael hisses, pouncing to his feet before Jeremy drags him back down.

“Stay put! The three of us can’t take these guys on alone,” Jeremy hisses.

“Easy for you to say! That’s my fiancée!”

“Yeah, and Matt’s my best friend! Waiting here is killing me too!”

“They have their earpieces,” Gavin says. “If they were listening, they know we’re coming.”

“They’ll know how many of us there are, too. And they’ll know one of us can fly,” Jeremy says, pondering.

His thoughts are interrupted by faint hisses ripping through Michael’s bared teeth. On top of that, his claws are out and the fur on his tail stands on edge. His tail flicks in agitation. Jeremy gives him a strange look, thanks his luck that chinchilla instincts will never overpower him like that, and pats Michael’s back. “Easy, tiger.”

“They’re waiting for us then,” Gavin says.

“Seems like it.” Jeremy taps his earpiece. “Geoff, we can’t recover them. Withdrawing to the cave. Over.”

“Cave?” Gavin asks.

“So that they search every cave in the area for us. Buys us some time, at least,” Jeremy says.

His earpiece cackles. “Understood. Over,” Geoff says.

“Do you have a gun?” Michael asks with a faint hiss behind it.

“I have a pistol,” Jeremy says, “And you’re in no condition to have it.”

“They’re moving them!” Gavin cries. He watches as Matt is thrown in the back of the van, and then Trevor. “Jeremy, what do we do? They’re loading them up!”

“Shit… Fuck! You a confident flyer yet?”

“Uh, yeah, why?”

“When they move, you follow them, and fly high. Try fly directly above them, where they can’t see you. See where they’re going, and get the hell out of there.”

“And what about Lindsay?!” Michael hisses.

“There’s nothing we can do for her now! Come on,” Jeremy growls, tugging Michael away from the hill.

“No! Lindsay! Lindsay!”


	7. Chapter 7

Alfredo crouches behind a tree, gesturing for Trevor to follow. “See something?” Trevor asks.

“Heard something. I think, anyway. You smell anything off?”

“No. You?”

“Nah. Wind’s not in our favour,” Alfredo murmurs. He peers around the tree, watching and listening closely for anything unusual. His eyes hone-in on something on the ground about a hundred yards away. It’s not a human, but it evidently doesn’t belong.

“FREDO! Look out!”

Alfredo has no time to react before a body slams into him, knocking him to the ground. He hears something sail over them, and the other body – Trevor – grabs his arm, drags him to his feet and runs. Alfredo needs no prompting to bolt too.

They don’t make it far before Trevor is brought down by another shot. Alfredo dives to his side and scrambles behind cover, dragging Trevor’s seizing body with him.

“It’s a dart,” he says, yanking it out of Trevor’s leg. “Probably a toxin in it. Come on, we gotta go!”

Through clenched teeth, Trevor growls: “I can’t!”

“Trev…”

“I lost my earpiece when I fell. Find it, Fredo! Warn the others!”

“Fuck…” Alfredo begins to quickly sift through the frosty, snow-covered leaves to Trevor’s left, careful not to peer out from the tree. “You see it, Trev?”

“No,” he growls through gritted teeth. “Fuck, my leg!”

Alfredo’s darting eyes finally find it, laying out of cover by about two meters. He wastes no time in scrambling for it, but an armoured boot blocks his path, and he finds a gun to his forehead.

The soldier before him kicks him back to Trevor’s side, as another flanks them from the other side of the tree. Trevor sighs in defeat, but Alfredo tries to stare them down.

Trevor finds Alfredo’s arm, holds it tightly and says: “This is it.”

The soldier scoops up Trevor’s earpiece and dusts off the dirt before bringing it to his ear to listen.

“NO!” Alfredo growls, diving for the earpiece.

“Fredo, no!”

The soldier reacts as if he expected it, beating Alfredo down with the butt of his gun. Alfredo falls unconscious beside Trevor, who immediately moves to cover his body with his own to defend against any other beating.

“Don’t! We submit…”

Alfredo wakes with a pounding head and a groggy mind. He’s laying uncomfortably on a moving metal floor with his arms and legs bound. He moans softly as he tries to open his eyes.

It’s too dark to see much of anything, but he can see he’s in a box, no, a van, with three other bodies. One sniff tells him the other bodies are Lindsay, Trevor and Matt. And there’s two other scents, too. Two humans.

“Oh, fuck…” Alfredo whispers. He shuffles closer to the person on his right – Trevor – and begins to wag his tail, whacking Trevor’s lower back while whispering as loud as he dares: “Trevor! Trev!”

“…Hm?”

“Trevor, wake up!”

Trevor squints, then his eyes blink open and he looks around. “Where are we?” he asks.

“Keep your voice down,” Alfredo warns. “We’re caught. Can you see?”

“Yeah, yeah, I can see.”

“Can you see my binds?” Alfredo asks, “Or Matt’s? Or Lindsay’s?”

“Yeah?”

“What are they made out of? You think I can chew through them?”

Trevor shuffles closer to Matt’s bound hands and studies. “Uh… They look tough, but maybe?”

“Okay, I’m gonna try free you,” Alfredo whispers. He finds Trevor’s hands, finds a gap between Trevor’s flesh and the binds, and hooks his teeth into it. Thanks to his heritage, his teeth are sharper than average, but a jackal is an omnivore and so his molars are re-enforced also. Trevor is right – the binds are tough, but it snaps eventually, and Trevor pulls himself up to unbind Alfredo.

“How’s your leg?”

“It’s… tingly. It’s okay. How’s your head? They knocked you unconscious; I think you’re still bleeding.”

“Wait, stop moving! Quiet,” Alfredo whispers.

“What is it?” Trevor asks. Alfredo doesn’t respond, but by the way his ears twitch, Trevor can only assume he can hear something he can’t.

“We have four on route now, but we believe there are at least five others in the vicinity,” one of the humans says. “Yes. At least one capable of flight. Yes. Yeah, look’s like we got a badger, two dogs and an unknown mammal, requesting DNA testing when we arrive. We’re about ten minutes out.”

“Ten minutes,” Alfredo whispers.

“Ten minutes until what?” Trevor asks.

“I don’t know! Ten minutes until we ‘arrive’. Get these things off me!”

Trevor sets to work freeing Alfredo, and once his hands are free, they unbind their legs. “Look for a way out of here,” Alfredo whispers, “I got these two.”

“Fredo… You can’t see this door. We ain’t getting out. Not unless someone on the outside lets us out.”

“There must be some way! You’re the smart one, Trev.”

Trevor sighs to himself. Alfredo blindly fiddles with the binds on Matt’s hands. As Trevor crawls to help, Alfredo gives in and begins to chew through instead.

“Dude, that is not necessary. Let me help.”

The bind snaps, and Alfredo shakes Matt until he grunts. “It’s all I can do right now. Matt!”

“Hm?” Matt groans. As he comes to, Trevor unbinds his legs.

“You feeling alright?” Trevor asks.

“Huh? Yeah… Yeah, I’m good. Groggy, though. Where are we?”

He’s partially answered when the truck hits a bump in the road, tossing them to the right of the truck. While Trevor catches himself, Matt and Alfredo slam into each other, and Lindsay falls on top of them too.

“You’re crushing my arm!”

“And you’re sat on my tail!”

“That’s not me, idiot, that’s Lindsay!”

“Keep it down! Lindsay, wake up!”

“Enough!” Trevor snaps. “I got it.”

“Got what?” Matt asks.

“There’s ice on the road – there’s not much grip. I know how to stop the vehicle. At least, I think I do. It’s worth a shot. Get Lindsay up, we need to do this fast!”

“This is never going to work…” Matt murmurs.

“Would you keep your negativity to yourself? You’re distracting me,” Alfredo says.

“I’m just saying, we have no idea where we are and they’re probably armed.”

“Well, it has a greater chance of success than submitting to them,” Trevor says.

“Count us down, Trevor,” Lindsay says. Like Alfredo, the darkness blinds her, but Lindsay won’t let that deter them.

“Remember, aim high,” Trevor says. “Three, two, one, go!”

All four throw themselves at the opposite corner of the truck. It sways, and certainly feels unstable. “Again!” Trevor shouts. No need keeping quiet now – the humans undoubtably know what’s going on.

They back off and throw themselves at the same corner again, to Trevor’s count, and then again, and then again. The van slows, but it’s too late – eventually, the momentum is too great, and it crashes onto its side.

Trevor and Matt grab Alfredo and Lindsay, respectively, as the truck tips, throwing them backwards so that they land on their backs rather than their heads. Matt falls too, while Trevor just barely manages to adjust his balance well enough to stay on his feet.

“They’re coming for us,” Alfredo moans as Trevor helps him up. “One’s wounded. They’re pissed.”

“We need to pounce on them as soon as they open those doors! Fuck, as they open them!” Lindsay says.

“This is insanity. They’ll kill us!” Matt objects.

“If they were going to kill us, they’d have done it already. And what alternative do we have?” Trevor asks. “Roll over, after this, and surrender?”

“I don’t know! I’m not cut out for this! And now you want me to fight actual soldiers?”

Trevor positions himself before the doors, guiding Alfredo and Lindsay with him. “Yeah, I’m not cut out for it either, Matt, but we have no choice.”

“Just follow my lead,” Alfredo says.


	8. Chapter 8

A bar scrapes across the outside of the truck, and the doors unlock. The moment they begin to open, Alfredo sprints, slamming into them. The top door whacks the soldiers, who stumble back, while the bottom door falls open. Alfredo rolls out with it, blinks as his eyes adjust to the light, and pounces at the closest soldier – the wounded one.

While they wrestle for a gun, Trevor and Lindsay escape. The other soldier recovers in this time, and shoots at them. The bullet misses, instead ricocheting off the door. Trevor kicks his legs out, while Lindsay goes for the gun. The soldier kicks her off and tries to aim again, but Matt slides past, elbows his jaw and loosens his grip on the gun enough for Trevor to kick it away.

The other soldier, the already wounded one, cries out suddenly. A bloody hand comes away from the gun, and he tries to swing down on Alfredo, but he’s much faster and ducks, taking the gun with him. With a well placed blow to the back of the damaged kneecap, the soldier falls. Alfredo aims immediately, and the soldier freezes.

“Get them in the back of the van,” Alfredo says as he backs away to a safe distance. “Lock it, and let’s go.”

“Um, Fredo…” Trevor says, unsure. Alfredo looks over his shoulder, and sees three other military vehicles pull up not far away. Behind them, down the road, is a small building. No doubt a large prison for hybrids sits underground.

“Run. Guys, RUN!” Alfredo demands.

“It’s too late,” Trevor says.

“You’re going to let them recapture us?!”

“There’s no escape now,” Lindsay says solemnly, almost sobbing. “They have vehicles – we don’t. Let’s just… make it easier for ourselves.”

“Lindsay, what about Michael?”

“Don’t go there, Alfredo, don’t!”

A dozen more soldiers exit the trucks, taking cover and aiming at the hybrids. “Drop your weapon!” they command.

“Do as they say,” Trevor orders.

“Trev…!”

“Do it, Alfredo!”

Reluctantly, Alfredo clicks the safety of the gun on and places it on the icy road, before kicking it away.

The soldiers advance immediately, forcing the hybrids onto their knees in a line before binding their hands once again. Lindsay blinks back tears and leans against Matt for support. And while Trevor can’t reach out to Alfredo by normal means, he does flick his tail towards him. Alfredo sees his attempt at a reassuring smile and curls his tail around Trevor’s.

“We’ll be alright,” Trevor whispers, “Believe me.”

A woman in a thick white coat follows the soldiers once the hybrids are safely bound. She’s old, and doesn’t look particularly friendly. She paces back and forth before them, analysing. Sometimes she touches their ears, and sometimes she grabs a lip to check teeth. When she’s done, she points to Alfredo. “That’s not a dog.”

“How astute,” Alfredo spits.

“And that,” she gestures towards Trevor. “Some sort of Vermilingua. Get those two men down to the medical bay. I want these two in for DNA first. Lock the female and the badger up for now.”

“MOTHERFUCKERS!” Michael snarls.

“We know,” Jeremy says, his head in his hands on the table.

“Fuckers think they can just keep coming into my life and just TAKE WHAT THEY WANT?! Huh?!” Michael slashes across the cabin’s wall, leaving four visible claw marks.

“Michael, I think maybe you should take some deep breaths,” Jack says.

“FUCK!”

“Well, at least Gavin got home safe. We know where they are,” Geoff says.

“Well let’s fucking go get them then!” Michael growls.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Just tell me where Lindsay is, I’ll go get them myself!”

“Michael, maybe not the best idea.”

Michael rounds and points at Jeremy. “YOU don’t get to talk! You’re the reason they’re gone!”

“No Michael, he made the right call. Thanks to him, I didn’t lose any more of you,” Geoff says.

“So what’s the plan? Sit here feeling sorry for ourselves?” Michael snaps.

“It’ll take time. But I think we can infiltrate the place, if we get enough info. We get in, we cause a little chaos, we can free everyone. And I mean everyone.”

“So you need info, huh? Alright, where do I get it? Tell me, Geoff!”

“Not you. Not yet. Gavin needs to do some recon first.”

“So you want me to sit here licking my wounds while they could be doing fuck knows to my fiancée?!” Michael roars.

“No. You’re our best hunter now, Michael. You and Jack need to keep us fed until we’re ready. At the very least, it’ll keep you occupied. Can you do that for us?”

Michael scowls, even almost hisses, but accepts it and pushes away from the table, leaving yet more claw marks. He storms outside and screams in anguish at the snow and whatever else will listen.

“It’ll hurt less if you relax,” the woman, Dr Holt, says.

“If you were strapped to a table in a foreign lab about to be poked with needles, would you relax?” Alfredo growls.

The doctor sighs and tuts, attaching a fresh needle to her empty syringe. “You know, despite what you believe, I am trying to help you.”

“Fredo, just relax,” Trevor says as soothingly as he can through his nerves. He’s strapped down to a different table beside him, and behind the doctor currently. Alfredo meets his eyes, and when he sees Trevor nod reassuringly, he takes a deep breath. His muscles don’t relax much, but it’s something.

Alfredo can’t help but growl a little as he needle pierces his arm. It is there for far too long as the doctor draws a vial of blood, replaces the filled one with an empty one, and fills the second also.

“What do you do with the blood?” Trevor asks as the doctor disposes of the needle.

She turns and preps a second one, failing to make eye contact as she answers. “Identification, genealogy, proteomics, etcetera. Hybrids are fascinating creatures.”

“So fascinating we needed to be locked up for your own secret zoo, huh?” Alfredo growls.

“The alternative was elimination. God knows, they were lobbying for it. I couldn’t let that happen. Like it or not, canine, my team and I saved your kind. Relax and hold still,” the doctor says. Trevor winces as the needle jabs him.

“Oh, great, we’re saved,” Alfredo murmurs sarcastically.

Interestingly, the doctor smiles in amusement. She draws the needle free of Trevor’s arm, disposes of it and collects her vials. “I’ll be back in a moment,” she says, and leaves the lab.

“Fredo, antagonising these guys isn’t going to make our lives any better,” Trevor says.

“Won’t make them much worse either,” Alfredo growls.

“Frey, trust me on this one. Just comply, for now.”

“For the rest of my life, you mean.”

“No, I…” Trevor glances around the lab, listening for returning footsteps. He lowers his voice to a whisper even he can barely hear. “I saw Gavin.”

Alfredo’s eyes widen, and for the first time since being captured, he keeps his mouth shut. Trevor continues, whispering for Alfredo’s ears only. “I saw him when we escaped the truck. He was high, I could barely see him, but there’s no doubt – there’s nothing else I could have seen.”

“Did they?” Alfredo asks, nudging towards the door the doctor had passed through.

“I don’t know. No one looked up, except the guys we knocked over. They didn’t say anything at the time – if they even noticed him, they probably wouldn’t have known what they were looking at.”

“So he probably made it back.”

Trevor nods. “We just have to wait this out – they’ll be coming for us soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isolation has me writing far more than usual. Two days between uploads? Sure, why not? I hope this can relieve someone else's boredom in all this, even if just for a few minutes. Stay safe everyone.
> 
> P.S. yes I am absolutely focusing on Alfredo and Trevor way too much for the time being because I have no idea how the fuck I'm going to break them out hahaha help me hahaha :'). I already wrote a breakout but I hated it and scrapped it, now I'm basically re-writing from this point on from scratch. Ah well, at least it gives me something to figure out when I'm bored.
> 
> Also, new (non-OC) characters inbound. I'm hyped for that.


	9. Chapter 9

The cabin has never looked cleaner. From the polished surfaces to the dusted support beams, everything is immaculate. Even the fireplace is ash-free.

Cleaning the house gives Jeremy the security and clarity he needs to function now. There’s nothing he can do to help the ones they lost yet, but he can certainly wage war on filth for the time being.

The others questioned Jeremy at first. After all, Trevor had taken a certain pride in the home and never let it get too messy, and there was never any urgent need to clean. But Trevor is gone, and they quickly realised that all the cleaning wasn’t really about the cleaning. They left Jeremy in peace after that and sat in the corner to read.

Jack and Michael are the only other hybrids at home with them. Michael hasn’t said much since he calmed down. Rather, he lays in Gavin’s hammock silent. Not asleep – Jeremy can tell from the agitated flicking of his tail – but unmoving and certainly not to be disturbed. Jack, on the other hand, sits on the wooden chair in the corner of the room with a book.

Jeremy comes to the coffee table, and he sets his cloth and polish down. He perches on the sofa and picks up the book that was left on the table gently, as if it is some relic from centuries ago. Jeremy sighs and opens the book to the number he’d memorised.

Alfredo never did finish the sentence he’d been reading. He’d been doing so well too, and he’d come so far since Jeremy started teaching him. Looking back, it’s probably Jeremy’s proudest achievement yet. Yet now, all the memory leaves is a heavy pain in his chest. He closes the book gently and holds it to his chest, taking deep breaths as he defies the tears that sting at his eyes.

“Alright,” Jack grunts as he pulls himself from his chair. He sits on the couch opposite Jeremy, leaning in. “Don’t let it upset you. We will get them back safe.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy murmurs. He doesn’t sound like he believes Jack.

“In the meantime, I’m certain they’re fine. I’m sure Trevor’s already plotting something, and I’m sure Lindsay’s kicking ass in there. They're tough,” Jack says. Michael doesn’t truly react, but Jack does note the flick of his ear. At least he’s listening. “Matt will pull their spirits up, I’m sure. He’s braver than we ever gave him credit for.”

“And Fredo?” Jeremy asks.

“I’m sure he’s being a real pain in their ass.”

Jeremy chuckles, but it fades quickly. “I miss them.”

“Everyone misses them, but you need to remember that we’re alright, and they’re probably alright too. We’ll see them again.”

Jeremy musters up a smile for Jack’s efforts. The pain doesn’t go away, but he supposes it’s eased.

The cabin door opens and Gavin hurries through, spreading his wings and beating twice to rid them of snow. Geoff follows close behind, closing the door quickly.

“Anything?” Jack asks, standing.

Geoff sits at the counter and clasps his hands. “It’s not going to be easy,” he says.

“Nobody expected it to be.”

“I’m thinking it’s going to have to be a covert plan. If we can get some of us in there, we can let the hybrids out. The sheer number in there must be enough to overpower the human guard.”

“That seems like a bad idea. Every soldier in there is probably armed, most of us will be killed!” Jeremy objects.

“No. Those soldiers are under strict orders not to kill a hybrid, whether it’s free or captive. Those guns are either for show, or they’re dart guns.”

“So assuming we can get them out, what then?” Jack asks.

“He’s right, this is a barren wasteland – the hybrids will freeze to death if we can’t get them somewhere safe,” Jeremy says.

“We haven’t figured that out yet,” Gavin says, “But I’m going south tomorrow – I want to see if I can find anything useful.”

“I'm going back to the base for more recon. Jack, you can come with, if you like. We’ll get this figured out. We have to – no doubt they’ll be coming for us soon.” Geoff says.

“Stop moving, mutt, or I’ll pin it through your ear like a cow,” the soldier warns.

“I bet I could pull that off,” Alfredo says. He takes a jab to the ribs for it. “I don’t think I deserved that,” he groans.

Behind his back, the soldier wraps a tight metal chain around his wrist. It locks shut, catching his skin in the process. The soldier releases him, and Alfredo examines the tag as he rubs the wound. In the centre of the chain, a small dog tag reads ‘Canis adustus’. The words, while short, are strangely difficult for him to read, and now he really misses Jeremy and his persistent reading lessons. The words don’t say it, at least not in any way Alfredo knows, but he understands that these unfamiliar words mean ‘jackal’. Presumably Trevor has something similar written on his tag.

“Now, we’ll ask this once,” the soldier says clearly. “Where are the other hybrids?”

“I could ask you the same thing – you dragged them here with us,” Trevor says.

The soldier looks to Alfredo. “Is that the truth?” he asks.

“Nothing but,” he confirms.

The soldier nods, stepping back. “Okay. Confine them both – separately.”

“Confine?” Trevor stutters. “What do you mean?” Both he and Alfredo are grabbed by the arms and dragged from their seats. Alfredo is dragged to an exit on the left, while Trevor is shoved towards a door on the right.

“Trev!” Alfredo calls. He struggles, but he can’t break free of the soldiers’ iron grip.

“Fredo!”

“I’ll bring you both back in twenty-four hours. Hopefully sensory deprivation triggers the memory.”

They toss Alfredo into a small cell, and when they slam the door, he’s left in utter darkness. Even with his heightened hearing, he can’t hear the soldiers outside walking away. All he hears are his own hasty breaths.

He tucks his knees up to his chest and closes his eyes. Alfredo had almost forgotten what it was like to be alone. Truly alone – with no way to reach out to anyone. Now, for the first time in years, the hopeless feeling that had plagued his childhood and early adulthood returns.

He shudders, however, when he hears something not quite right. A breath with a slight echo. Was it an echo? He sniffs at the air, and there’s somebody close – a hybrid.

He pulls himself to his feet, following the scent. “Hello?” he calls. His own voice echoes slightly, down something in front of him. He reaches out to find a vent. “Can anybody hear me?” he asks.

A voice echoes down the vent to him, urgent and frightened. A young woman’s voice. “Whoever you are, don’t tell me anything!”

“What?”

“You’re in here because they want information, right? They want it from me too. They want us to talk. Don’t. There’s mics all over this place.”

“How do you know?”

“Why else would they let us hear each other? They’re not stupid. Whatever you know, keep it to yourself.”

“I don’t know anything,” Alfredo lies.

“Good. That’s good.”

“How long have you been here?” Alfredo asks.

The woman is slow to respond. “A week? I haven’t really been keeping track.”

“A week?! Fuck…”

“You can’t see in the dark, can you?”

“Nope. You?”

“A little. Nothing at the moment. I don’t think anybody could see in this. I’m just checking you’re not a cat or something, I guess.”

“Why? You a mouse hybrid? I think I smell a herbivorous animal on you.”

The woman laughs a little. “So he smells, does he? No, I’m not a mouse hybrid. And you’re not a cat?”

“Not quite. My name’s Alfredo, by the way.”

“Jackie. Pleasure to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a little research and, as far as I am aware, Jackie is alright with fanfic. If anybody has any evidence otherwise, please let me know and I'll edit her out asap. The absolute last thing I want to do is go against somebody's stated wishes. At the moment I'm unsure whether this appearance is a 'cameo' of sorts or whether I will actively persue any romantic sub-plot, either with Alfredo/Jackie or any other couples (I guess Trevor/Barbara is the most obvious choice). If anybody has any preference one way or the other, maybe let me know in the comments?


	10. Chapter 10

With his wrists bound together, they hook his bind onto a short chain hanging from the ceiling. Alfredo tugs, but it won’t give way – it’s sturdy.

The soldier who had interrogated him yesterday enters the room. He throws a file down on the desk and looks Alfredo over. “Sleep well?” he asks.

“Where’s Trevor?” Alfredo growls.

“I did some research last night and decided that, based on your heritage, it would be more productive if I questioned you alone. Without a packmate to back you up, if that makes sense.”

“I don’t have a pack.”

“Ah, but the mentality is there. That anteater’s the closest thing you’ll have to a packmate here, isn’t he?”

“Just tell me what you want so I can tell you I don’t know anything and we can both leave.”

“Where are the other damn hybrids?”

“I don’t know, you separated us.”

The soldier paces towards him, until they’re eye to eye. “You want to start co-operating, mutt, before it gets worse?”

“You won’t hurt me. You would have done by now. You have orders not to touch me.”

“Last chance. How many other hybrids are there?”

“Three.”

The soldier’s scowl fades, and he even looks like he’ll laugh. “Now, unofficially, I hoped you’d say that. See, you’re right, I’m under orders not to harm you. It’s bad for research, apparently. But they didn’t say anything about the other mutts we got locked up.”

Alfredo growls as the soldier steps back towards the door. He opens it and grabs a woman from two other men holding her. She’s young, and about a head shorter than Alfredo. Her hair, a chestnut brown, is tied back in a straight ponytail, and from her head rise two long brown ears that easily make up the difference in height. Her clothes are worn, and the jacket she wears is slightly oversized. She struggles against the soldier, who slams the door shut behind her, and even tries to strike backwards at him. She misses. Alfredo doesn’t recognise her face, but he recognises her scent and her voice.

“Jackie!”

“Keep your mouth shut, Alfredo! Don’t tell them an…!” Jackie says quickly, locking eyes with him. She is cut off when the soldier grabs her throat.

“Let her go! She doesn’t know anything!” Alfredo snarls.

“So there is something to know?” The soldier pushes Jackie towards him. “If you won’t tell me, tell her. Or don’t. But it would be a shame to see something happen to a face like that, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t listen to him! I’m not worth it.”

“Be quiet, let him speak!” The soldier strikes her beneath the ribs.

Jackie doubles over with a small cry, before spitting: “He hits like a little girl.”

“If you want to hit someone, let me down! I’m the one you really want to hit!”

“Don’t tempt me, mutt.” The soldier grabs Jackie’s throat again, tighter than before. She can still breathe, but it’s clear that is about to change. “I want numbers, I want locations, I want species. And they’d better line up with the anteater’s.”

Alfredo doesn’t break his glare, but the flicker of his ear gives away his shock. Part of him refuses to believe Trevor would ever out their friends, but part of him wonders what threats they made to him to break him. Would Trevor let an innocent hybrid suffer? Perhaps not.

“Nothing?” the soldier asks. Alfredo does his best not to look at Jackie as he stays silent. The soldier’s hand closes around her windpipe, and she begins to choke and wail weakly as she claws at him to free herself.

Alfredo closes his eyes and turns his head, but he can’t block out the sound of Jackie’s suffering. The soldier watches his ears flicker with his discomfort and squeezes Jackie’s throat harder still.

“Stop it! Stop it, stop it, STOP! There’s five of them!”

Jackie’s chokes are immediately replaced with desperate and relieved gasps. Alfredo keeps his eyes shut as he hangs his head and his ears flatten into his hair in shame.

“Alfredo, no…”

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know…” Alfredo says. “There’s not many landmarks, and they probably moved on after we were caught. That’s the truth.”

“And what species. What hybrids?”

“Alfredo, you don’t have to tell him. Don’t!” Jackie protests.

The soldier’s hand comes back to her throat, but Alfredo shakes his head. “Don’t. I’ll tell you, just don’t hurt her.”

“Alfredo!”

“There’s a ram hybrid, and a lion, and a cat, and a chinchilla, and… and a lark.”

“Does the lark fly?” the soldier asks. Alfredo nods once. “Story checks out. Here,” he shoves Jackie to the ground at his feet. “As promised.”

Jackie crawls to her feet, watching the soldier closely. He doesn’t move towards them, instead sitting at the desk. He places his gun on the table in clear view by his hand and begins writing in his file.

Jackie turns and jumps up, unclasping the chain Alfredo’s wrists are bound to. Alfredo keeps his eyes closed and his head turned away in his shame. As she works at undoing the bind, she whispers, “You shouldn’t have said anything. I would have been fine.”

“I know…” Alfredo murmurs.

“Well, for what it’s worth, thank you.” Alfredo’s closest ear flickers, and Jackie spies the slightest blush on his cheeks. “Hm. You know, you need to work on those ears – I can read them like a book, and everybody else probably can too.”

The binds fall free from his wrist as the door opens. Three soldiers enter, and their commander gestures towards the hybrids. “Lock them up with the others. Together or separate, doesn’t matter to me, just log where you put them.”

The cell Alfredo is thrown into this time is quite different to the isolation cell he spent the previous night in. It’s a little larger, and lit well enough. There’s a bed too, as basic and uncomfortable as it looks, though no cover or blanket. A solid wall dominates only one side of his cell, the back. The other three are bars instead, so the cell almost resembles a cage more than a cell.

On the right of the cell are several other empty cells. On the left, a row of cells holding staring hybrids of all types. Jackie is thrown into the cell directly on his left, and the hybrid opposite Alfredo’s cell, a blonde woman with antlers of some kind, calls to her. “Jackie, are you alright?!”

“I’m fine, Barbara, I’m alright.” Jackie says.

On the left of Barbara’s cell, opposite Jackie’s, is another cell, and the hybrid within it rises and blinks in disbelief. “Fredo?”

“Matt!” Alfredo calls, running to the bars. “Where’s Lindsay and Trevor?!”

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen either of them since yesterday. Lindsay… they took Lindsay, Fredo.”

“They WHAT?!”

“I don’t know where, and I don't know why, but... Holy fuck, I'm worried about them. Maybe Lindsay’s with Trevor?”

“That’s not likely. If Trev’s not here, he’s either being interrogated or isolated. He…” Alfredo pauses and lulls over the information in his head. “Trevor didn’t talk…” he realises. “Trevor didn’t talk, you did!” he snarls.

“They had a gun to my head, what was I supposed to do?”

“They were under orders not to hurt us, Matt! They need us healthy!”

“Alfredo,” Jackie says, “Don’t be so hard on him. You talked too.”

“He did?” Matt sounds genuinely surprised, and a little disappointed. “If you knew about the order, what could possibly break you?”

Alfredo ducks his head and ears again, avoiding eye contact with anyone. “I… they tricked me, too. They told me they broke Trev.”

“And that was enough to break you?”

“He did it to save me,” Jackie says.

“That’s fair enough, I suppose.”

“It’s not,” Alfredo growls to himself. “I should have kept my damn mouth shut. Though it doesn’t matter, since you talked.” He sighs, drops onto the bed and says, “I hope they get out of there.”

“If you lasted so long out there, there must be something special about you. I’m sure your friends will be fine,” Barbara says.

The door at the end of the corridor opens and two soldiers drag Trevor in. He’s thrown in the cell beside Barbara’s looking petrified. He finds Alfredo immediately, and Alfredo points to Matt. Trevor seems to calm, but not much.

Once the soldiers are gone, Trevor says, “They have my mom here!”

“You saw her?” Matt asks.

“No, I saw footage. It was her, clear as day. They told me… They told me they didn’t have a use for her anymore, and they’d shoot her if I didn’t give the others up.”

“And there’s tres. Lindsay’s gone, and we all suck,” Matt sighs.

“Lindsay’s gone?” Trev asks, "Well we need to find them! And my mom!”

“Real cute, hero,” Jackie says, “But let me introduce you to a concept you three might not be familiar with.” She taps the bars. “It’s called captivity. Welcome to it. You aren’t getting out of these cells unless they want you out.”

“There must be some way!”

“She’s right, Trev,” Alfredo sighs. “We’re done.”

“Fredo, you escaped captivity multiple times.”

“Yeah, I escaped an illegal breeding farm and some whack-job owners, usually after a few years. It doesn’t even compare.”

“So that’s it?” Trevor asks. “You’re giving up?”

“I’m not giving up, Trev. I said we’re done. Geoff and the others are still out there, and they’re our only hope now. If we didn’t just fuck everything up.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update (26/4/2020): I know I'm overdue for an update for this fic and I'm about to be due an update for my other work too. Unfortunately, this upcoming week is deadline week at uni and after that I have exam season. Updates are therefore unfortunately going to be scarce for roughly a month, but I am not abandoning my work and I will try to update when I can. I have a few chapters backlogged for Red as the Dawn so hopefully updates won't slow down too much there. As for this work, while future chapters are taking shape it's in dribs and drabs and it's certainly not ready for publishing yet so please bear with me. I also have plenty written for the upcoming kings AU but I'm saving it for now so that I don't spread my attention too thin when I get back to writing. It will be coming in the next month or so, I promise.
> 
> Update (20/5/2020): Just confirming, still not abandoning :). Exam season is almost done and after that I'll have all summer to stare at my screen and battle through the writer's block on this one. I've just decided for now that I'd rather spend the little time I have for writing right now working on the fics I can finish a chapter of within an hour or so than on this one which could take days for me to get something I'm happy with. BUT I WILL BE BACK I PROMISE! But hey, while I'm here, I may as well shamelessly self-promote my other works. They're completely different genres but still AH fics and I'm really enjoying writing both of them right now and they're getting updated roughly every week.

Gavin touches down almost gracefully, beating his wings twice to steady himself before he pulls them close. In a different scenario, Geoff would be damn proud of his progress. As it happens, he can only frown at the bad news he expects. “Anything?”

“There’s a dock to the south-west, but it’s far, Geoff, and I don’t know how we’ll ever get a boat, least of all one that can carry so many.”

“And the compound?” Michael presses.

Gavin shakes his head slowly. “There’s not much to see – a few small buildings – one on the east side is a garage, and the others I can’t tell. But there’s not enough space to keep so many hybrids – not unless they’re crammed together. No – I think they’re being held underground. There’s no way for me to find them.”

Geoff sighs slowly. He pats Gavin’s shoulder and says, “You did your best. I have one last thing to ask.”

“Anything,” Gavin says.

“Watch the roads tomorrow. If another transport comes through, signal to us. We’ll need them.”

Gavin’s wide eyes flick over to Michael. “You’re going in?”

“Jack and I, yeah. We talked about it while you were gone.”

“Mikey, are you sure? You might never come out.”

“Don’t worry about me. One way or another, I’m getting Lindsay back.”

“Michael and Jack will scope out their defences and get back to us,” Geoff explains, “They’ll try to find the others too – they might know things our covert investigations might never reveal. And we’ll go from there.”

Gavin watches the van pull into the compound and pulls into the garage. Michael and Jack hop out, and the other men outside don’t seem to respond. At the very least, the first half of this insane mission was a success. They walk to a different structure, and when they disappear inside, they don’t reappear. ‘Northern structure is probably the way down,’ Gavin thinks. He beats his wings and rises higher yet, just to be safe, but keeps his eyes firmly pinned on the door that Michael and Jack entered.

Minutes that seem like hours pass, though Gavin doesn’t expect the two to return for some time. He circles the compound over and over, until he hears a distant beat of wings. Only then does he pull his eyes away from the door to search around.

Somewhere in the clouds, Gavin sees a flash of red. Choosing caution over curiosity, Gavin waits, listening to the beating. It is too high to be a common bird, and what he heard was the beating of wings about the size of his own.

“Hello?” a voice calls from the clouds.

Gavin gasps. Could it be? It must be. “Who’s there?” he replies.

From the clouds, a woman with large, colourful wings descends. The feathers are mostly red, but they descend into bright yellow and then deep blue. Her hair is dyed as red as her feathers too.

“Did you escape?” she asks.

“N… no. Did you?”

She shakes her head. “Where did you come from?”

In his shock, Gavin can’t muster the words to describe the cabin’s location, and instead simply points in its general direction.

“…Right. What exactly are you doing here?”

“Uh… I’m on lookout. I have friends in there, they’re disguised.”

The woman’s look turns intense. “You’re joking, right?”

“Uh… no?”

“That’s a suicide mission – it’ll never work! Can you call them out?” the woman asks. Gavin shakes his head and she rolls her eyes. “Alright. Then, if you don’t mind, I’m staying here and spotting with you. If they make it out of there at all, I expect you’ll need some help carrying them to safety, no?”

“Who are you, exactly?”

“Meg Turney. My group and I have been planning to infiltrate this place for months and free our kind.”

“There’s another group?!” Gavin beams.

“A few of us. We lost some of our best a few weeks ago.”

“Us too, three days ago. Gavin, by the way. If your group need a few extra hands taking this place down, we’re all willing to risk it.”

“We’ll talk after we save your friends. Any nocturnals?”

“Two. They’re uh… they’re the ones in the compound.”

“Of course they are.”

Michael paces the cells, eyeing the captive hybrids. He keeps a focused, near emotionless face, but inside he aches for them. All this time, so many of his kind had survived, all locked away where they could never be seen again.

Many of them stare at him too, and while none of them say it, the raised eyebrows, the slight gasps and the following eyes tell him many of them know he is one of them too.

Michael paces the cells for what feels like hours, but in reality must only be fifteen minutes or so. Eventually, he comes across scents he finds familiar, and he pauses outside one of the cells.

“Michael…?!” Trevor whispers.

“Shush. Act natural. Don’t move.”

Two cells down, Matt rouses and blinks at him. “Oh my god…”

“Michael, you can’t be here!” Trevor whispers urgently.

“Where’s Lindsay?” he asks, keeping his eyes wandering over the other hybrids.

“We don’t know. Look, Michael, you can’t be here!” Trevor gestures to an empty cell almost opposite. “See that? That’s Fredo’s cell. He’s in the lab right now, and they’re probably doing to him exactly what they did to Matt yesterday.”

“And what’s that?”

Matt scoots to the edge of his cell, and Michael sees true fear in his eyes. “They have this drug, and it fucks you up, man. It draws every animalistic instinct you have out; multiplies them ten-fold. I could barely think straight.”

“They’re researching our behavioural differences. Matt’s instincts are relatively weak, comparatively,” Trevor says, “That’s what it did to him. Imagine what it’ll do to a jackal hybrid. Imagine what he’ll do when he smells a cat. If you’re here when they bring Fredo back, he’ll blow your cover. He might even attack you – he won’t know what he’s doing. You need to go, and stay the hell away from the labs!”

“You expect him back soon?”

“Any moment now.”

“Then quick, tell me everything you can about this place that will help us.”

“Michael, listen to me!” Trevor insists.

“Tell me now, and I’ll go. The sooner the better."

Trevor sighs and rolls his eyes. “Fine. But when that door opens, you run!”

“Obviously,” Michael says.

“Alright. Security is pretty light – they think their position is security enough. They patrol through here two times a night and two times a day. If you want to take this place, I suggest you go covert. Somewhere there’s a CCTV room – find it and deactivate it. The guys in there, if any, shouldn’t be too difficult to take down. Once you have that, try to pick off any guards one by one. Some of them have keys to these cells, some don’t. The keys work for every cell, so you only need to bother finding one.

“But as soon as you start releasing hybrids, they’re going to come for you and you need to be ready to fight – bring weapons, and bring spares for the first hybrids you release. Maybe make it a point to make sure Alfredo gets a gun. The guards won’t shoot to kill but they’ll shoot to disable, and they have dart guns filled with toxin that sets your nerves on fire – it’s worse than a bullet. Now, somewhere in here there’s going to be vital equipment – food, warm clothing, weapons, everything we’ll need. Find where they store these things and make it a first priority to grab as soon as hybrids are free – especially weapons.”

“Trevor, where is Lindsay?!” Michael demands.

“I told you – we don’t know. They separated her. Listen, go…” Trevor begins, only to be interrupted by shuffling on the other side of the corridor door. “Michael, GO!” he insists. Michael nods once and darts in the opposite direction.

The door fortunately doesn’t open until he is safely out of sight, and Trevor watches shocked as men drag Alfredo back to his cell and toss him in. Alfredo doesn’t make a sound until the men have locked his cell and left, besides soft moans and gips.

“Man, what happened?” Matt asks.

“Fredo?” Jackie calls to him from her bed, a safe distance away from the bars separating their cells.

Alfredo crawls to the foot of his bed and promptly vomits a little. “Ugh…”

“Easy, man,” Trevor says soothingly.

“I ate something…” Alfredo murmurs. “I don’t remember what.”

“Raw meat, by the looks of it,” Jackie says. Alfredo moans in response and crawls onto his bed where he curls up. “I guess your digestive system isn’t quite as suited to a jackal’s diet as your instinctive appetite is.”

“At least it’s clearing your head, it seems,” Barbara says. “Silver linings.”

“My head fucking kills… And I can smell cat. It’s bothering me.”

“You want to chase it or something?”

“MATT!” Trevor chastises.

“What? It’s a legitimate question.”

Jackie scoots closer to the bars. “Don’t let it bother you. You’re doing great,” she says calmly. Slowly, with no sudden movements, she reaches her hand through the bars until it cups one of his ears. The fur is softer than it initially appears. Slowly, she rubs the base of his ear.

Alfredo sighs softly, and his ear tips backwards to press into her palm. “I’ll allow it,” he murmurs as behind him his tail twitches and wags slowly.

“Your friend Michael came,” Jackie explains with a low voice. “He’s the cat you smell. And they’re going to get us out of here soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pushing through the writer's block on this one. I had to scrap what I had again as I didn't like it, so this is my third re-write of this chapter. Hopefully it's still interesting to read - I'm doing my best to figure something out that isn't tacky, and I realised that some bullshit escape plot just isn't going to happen with only our main six, so I'm bringing in some support to make the plot just a little bit more fathomable. Hopefully that makes things more exciting too.
> 
> Also, I've been writing a sort-of AH kings AU fic inspired by real-life history during my writer's block. It's probably more game of thrones-like than a usual kings AU (GOT takes inspiration from a lot of the same history that I love and has shaped the fic so far). If anybody's interested in reading something like that, let me know in the comments. Publishing it might slow down progress on my other two works but I feel like I could really flesh it out and make a pretty solid fic out of it if I dedicate myself to it like I have to my two published works (by no means will I abandon either this fic or Red as the Dawn if I do decide to publish the kings AU fic, so don't worry about that).


	12. Chapter 12

Jack walks hastily down the unfamiliar corridor back towards where he believes the exit is. He had seen enough for one trip, and wasn’t willing to chance it further. He knew where the energy was generated for the whole prison, and where the minimal CCTV was monitored. Hopefully, he thinks, Michael found their captive friends for information.

A guard, clearly high-ranking, enters the corridor before Jack. His face is red and his scowl even shows his teeth. Jack keeps his eyes ahead as he passes, and he keeps his chin high and his posture straight. Walking with purpose works almost as good as any disguise.

It works. Too well, in fact, as when the two pass each other the guard turns and shouts to him, “You! Fetch that dog mutt! Make sure you’re not too rough with it!”

“Yes, sir,” Jack replies immediately as he continues on his path, praying that he is already heading in the direction of the poor hybrid that was summoned, or at the very least that the guard does not turn around to check where he is going.

Fortunately, luck sides with Jack and he is able to progress unhindered, but he knows now his time is limited. Soon enough, somebody will be looking for the man who defied orders.

He meets Michael close to the staircase up out of this facility. They don’t speak or make eye contact at first, instead opting to keep up appearances. Jack does however nudge Michael very slightly, just to reassure him that he walks beside a friend, not an enemy.

When they find themselves alone, Jack whispers, “Find anything?”

“I found Trevor and Matt. They’ve separated Lindsay,” Michael hisses.

“Where?”

“I don’t know; I can’t find them.”

Jack glances over at Michael solemnly. Michael is doing his best to keep his face expressionless, but the anger and fear in his eyes is unmistakable. “Lindsay will be okay.”

Michael huffs.

“And Fredo?” Jack whispers.

“Trevor says he’s in a lab. Says they’re testing them. Giving them this drug that puts their hybrid instincts on overdrive. Matt says it drove him insane, and he’s a _badger_.”

“God…” Jack murmurs.

“But you guys were right about Trev. He’s been planning.”

Jack’s heart jumps. At least that hasn’t changed. However they’ve been treated, and it doesn’t sound too great, they haven’t broken them. Trevor is still as brilliant as before. He’s just as intelligent, just as cunning. Even in here, Trevor’s mind is still on the task.

Michael continues, “He gave me what he knew and he gave me advice. I’ll share it when we get out of here.”

They make their way up the staircase, each grabbing a coat at the exit. When they step out into the cold, Michael has to resist the urge to look up and make sure Gavin is alright. The soldiers making their way around the base, what few of them there are, don’t seem to be in any particular hurry, or looking up, or shouting about any bird hybrid. Michael allows himself one sigh of relief as he takes this to mean Gavin is still safely above watching over them.

They continue their tactic of walking with purpose as they make their way towards the exit. They agreed it would be insanity to steal a vehicle on the way out – that would be sure to get them caught, or put the base on high alert for weeks. If all has gone to plan, Geoff should be waiting somewhere within walking distance in Trevor’s car.

They reach the gates without issue. Michael scans a card he had taken from the humans they had stolen their uniforms from. The scanner beeps red, and nothing happens. Nervously, Michael glances at Jack. He has to bring his hand to his hip to help him fight the instinct to swish his tail, currently hidden around his waist under his shirt, with his agitation.

Jack looks equally as worried. He tries his own card, to the same result. Michael hisses under his breath, “What now?”

“Stay calm,” Jack instructs, “We’ll find a way out.”

“HEY!” somebody shouts. Michael and Jack look over their shoulder to see a soldier standing just a few paces away. “What are you doing?” the soldier demands.

“Following orders,” Jack replies.

The answer clearly isn’t satisfactory. “Nobody is due in or out of here for two hours,” the soldier says.

Michael stiffens. He looks to Jack, who gives him a curt nod. It means ‘run’.

The two of them turn tail and flee. The soldier shouts after them, and the base erupts into action. Michael darts just out of his way as they run and grabs a makeshift shield, though the soldiers don’t shoot much, and Trevor was right – they’re just shooting darts.

“So what’s the plan?” Michael calls to Jack.

“I don’t know! Don’t get shot!”

Michael rolls his eyes and scans around them. The walls are tipped with barbed wire all the way around – there’s no way they’re climbing out of here. None of the buildings are close enough to use to jump over with either. In truth, there’s not much they _can_ do.

But then Michael hears the familiar and usually dreadful sound of wings spreading behind him. A pair of arms grab his torso and his feet are lifted from the ground. He throws his shield down at two soldiers as Gavin lifts him over the wall and drops him in the snow outside the perimeter.

Jack lands beside him ungracefully with a cry moments later, and Gavin crashes down into the snow just ahead of them. Michael tilts his head in confusion, until he sees an unfamiliar hybrid with the bright wings of a macaw land before him. Gavin hadn’t saved him, she had.

“You two hide,” the woman commands. “Gavin, you and I can lead them away. Then you guys get to safety. We’ll meet you later.”

“Who-?” Jack begins. He doesn’t get to finish his question before the woman beats her magnificent wings and takes off again.

Jack looks to Gavin, who shrugs. “I’ll explain later,” he says, then he takes off after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I said I wasn't abandoning, and I finally broke through the block to carry on. I'm not sure how often I'll update, but I'll make sure it's a little more frequent once a season XD


	13. Chapter 13

“You’re not a great flyer, are you?” Meg calls down to Gavin. She swings a wing back to dodge a shot dart and catches herself effortlessly before she can fall.

Below her, Gavin was employing his own erratic tactic of avoiding the darts: he wasn’t. Not for lack of trying, but for significant lack of skill. Lucky for him, the darts hit only feathers rather than flesh to leak their toxin into. Each almost-hit had him shrieking in fear so loud that those two feline hybrids could probably hear him.

“Do you want some help?” Meg shouts to him.

“No, no, I’m good. I’m… AAAGH!” Gavin wails as another dart just barely grazes him.

Meg shakes her head and swoops down. “You stay above me, okay? And fly higher! Maybe then they won’t get so many shots on you!”

Gavin gives a shaky nod. “Yeah, good idea. Any idea where we’re going?”

“Over the forest. Should break their line of sight well enough, and I know a few places we can hide until your friends back there get away.”

“You’ve had to run before?”

“No, not like this, it’s just good to have a contingency plan,” Meg explains. “Why? Are you telling me you didn’t have a backup plan?”

“My backup plan was to fly away, and to warn the others if I can.”

She stares in bemusement. “What have I gotten myself into with you lot?”

Michael throws himself into the back of the vehicle first, ducking down behind Geoff’s seat. Jack crawls into the passenger seat, halting only to dare to look into the sky. He takes a shaky breath when he sees that the sky is empty. Gavin and the other bird hybrid are nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” Geoff demands.

“Go, Geoff!” Michael hisses.

The ram hybrid scowls. “Where is Gavin?!”

“He’ll find us,” Jack says as reassuringly as he can. It doesn’t sound convincing. “He saved us. Just go, get away from here. Find somewhere he can find us and nobody else can. Hurry!”

Growling, Geoff puts the vehicle into reverse and swings it around, with Jack doing his best to spot Gavin’s silhouette in the sky. Geoff follows the road back towards the cabin with a lump in his throat.

“Did you get in there?” Geoff asks tentatively.

“I found Trevor and Matt,” Michael offers. “They’re okay. Alfredo too, they knew where he was. They’re all okay.”

Geoff lets out a sigh of relief. At least there is that. But Michael’s omission of Lindsay’s name is less than reassuring. “Go on,” he prods.

“They separated Lindsay. Trevor doesn’t know where they are. When we go in there, we have to find Lindsay ourselves. And…” Michael trails off.

“And…?” Geoff asks.

Jack answers for him. “Michael says they were experimenting on them. Alfredo was in a lab, right? And Matt had been in there too?”

Michael nods, clutching his seat with white knuckles. “They have a drug that messes with our heads, that makes us more primal. Matt said it was awful, and he seemed to think it was worse for hybrids with stronger instincts, like predators. They wouldn’t let me stay to find out how bad Fredo was going to be. If they give that shit to Lindsay…”

There is a distinctive ripping noise as Michael’s claws tear against the fabric of his seat. Geoff looks back over his shoulder at the noise and says, “You’re lucky this is Trevor’s car, not mine.”

“They could be torturing Lindsay right now,” Michael mutters under his breath, “With drugs or worse.” A snarl rips through his teeth as his tail whips. “I can’t take it!”

“Easy,” Jack purrs. “We’ll get her back.”

“WHEN?!” Michael hisses. “Every passing moment they could be tormenting them or hurting them! Oh god… they could be dead!”

“Lindsay’s not dead,” Jack says, “If the others are alive, they won’t have killed Lindsay.”

“How do you know that, huh?” Michael growls, “How do you know it wasn’t an accident, or they decided they didn’t need them?”

Jack’s hand on Michael’s shoulder halts him. “You can’t think like that,” he says, “You’re doing everything you can, anything they could ask of you and more. I’m sure they’ve just placed Lindsay elsewhere. We will find them.”

Geoff slams the brakes as two figures swoop down over the car and land on the road ahead of them. One of them doesn’t get a good footing on the ice and slips onto their back. The car skids to a halt mere inches from hitting him.

“GAVIN!” Geoff roars. He and Jack climb out of the car to find Gavin sighing in relief, and the other hybrid groaning. As Jack helps Gavin up, Geoff blinks in shock at the new hybrid. “You’re…?”

“Geoff!” Gavin scrambles to his side and beams proudly. “This is Meg. She found me; she helped lead them away. She says there are other hybrids nearby. We’re not alone!”

Geoff gawps, looking between Gavin and Meg as if waking from a dream. “M… more?”

“They’re not far from here,” Meg says, “There’s nine of us. Used to be more but… well, same story as you, I suppose. We’re willing to help in any way we can.”

Geoff is dumbfounded into silence, and so it is Jack who answers her. “We could use all the help we can get. Thank you.”

“Meg will take me to them,” Gavin says, “And then I’ll bring them to you guys at the cabin. You guys should get home where it’s safe; those bastards are probably still looking for us. We’ll see you in an hour.”

Geoff nods slowly. “Y… Yeah.”

Gavin hugs him quickly, then backs away, raises his wings and beats, raising him high into the air.

Meg chuckles. “Not the best at flying, is he?” she comments, earning a mock frown from Gavin. “I’ll keep him safe. Good to meet you, Geoff, and…”

“Jack,” Jack says.

She smiles. “A pleasure.” Then, she chases Gavin up into the sky.

Geoff almost falls against Jack. “Others…” he stutters, on the brink of tears. “Others! We might have a chance!”

“Not if they catch us,” Jack comments. “Get in, I’ll drive the rest of the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie, I'm really struggling with this fic. I know where I want it to go but I just can't seem to get there, hence the huge gaps between updates. Also this is my most popular fic by far and I'm super stressed about disappointing people with a terrible ending. But I'm nothing if not stubborn and even a bad ending is better than abandonment, and there's nothing stopping me from editing or re-writing after I'm done to improve it. I've reread the fic over and over to help me out, and I read that a good way to get through writer's block is to write your characters in completely different settings and scenes (one-shots, I guess), so now I have a little document of random hybrid one-shots XD. I will finish this thing.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this needs a warning considering my archive warning tags, or if this is considerably worse than what has already occured in some parts of this fic, but the last thing I want to do is cause anybody needless distress. If you don't want any spoiler for what happens in this chapter, stop reading this note here.
> 
> This chapter does include the aftermath of torture, specifically branding. There is no particularly graphic description of the wounds incurred, but if you feel that is something you don't want to read about, you should probably skip at least the second half of this chapter.

The door is thrown open with a bang that makes everyone jump. No less than seven guards come marching in, halting when they reach Trevor’s cell. “This one,” their leader says as he slams on the bars. Trevor, eyes wide, backs away, where Barbara grabs his arm.

The guards unlock the cell and three of them march in for him. “No!” Barbara snaps at them.

They grab Trevor and pry him away from her, and one of them hits at the bar that Barbara is gripping when she protests. “Be quiet,” the guard seethes, before he follows his companions. Outside the cell, they throw Trevor to the ground and bind his hands.

“That one too,” the head guard says, gesturing. Matt’s face pales and he doesn’t even struggle when two guards come for him. He bows his head and lets them lead him, anticipating the worst.

With Trevor dragged back to his feet, the head guard gives both of them a once over. He sneers, then his eyes turn on Alfredo. It is the same guard from his interrogation. “Shame it’s not you,” he mutters. Alfredo gives a low growl in response. The guard grins, then shoves Matt. “Take them,” he orders.

Matt is brought back first, shaking and wide-eyed, but seemingly unharmed. They dump him in his cell, and the moment the guards leave, Barbara reaches through to him and places a reassuring hand on his shoulder as Matt sits up.

“Are you alright?” she asks with a soft voice.

Matt, trembling, nods. “I’m… Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Alfredo asks. “Where’s Trevor?!”

Matt shakes his head as he stutters. “I don’t know, I…” He takes a deep breath. “They weren’t messing around this time. They wouldn’t hurt us before, but they were going to this time. They wanted us to talk about what Michael had said, and what we told him. They were going to beat us. They were going to start with Trevor, but I stopped them. I knew that wouldn’t break him, and I didn’t want to watch them beat him to a pulp. I told them everything they wanted.”

“They didn’t hurt you then?” Alfredo checks.

Matt shakes his head. “Not much, no.”

“So where’s Trevor?” Alfredo presses. Matt shudders and his ears fold back. “They should have brought him back with you?”

“I… I thought they’d leave him alone if I told them,” Matt says with tears in his eyes. His trembling speeds up and he clutches his own hands. “I think they just wanted to hurt one of us, for any reason. They dragged Trevor away into the next room to punish him for being the last to talk. While they took me from the room, the last thing I heard was Trevor screaming. I mean… _really_ screaming.”

“Oh god…” Barbara gasps with a hand to her mouth. “Oh…”

“Michael scared them,” Alfredo murmurs, “They must think the others have a chance.”

“We’d all better hope they do,” Barbara says, “It won’t just be Trevor who’ll suffer for this. If they think anybody else knows anything… I need to sit down.” She slumps onto her bed with her head in her hands. Like Matt, she too is now shaking. “Oh…”

“Who else knows something?” Matt asks.

“Me, probably,” Alfredo growls. “That one has it in for me. If they’re looking for an excuse to hurt me, this is it.”

“No,” Barbara groans. “Not you.”

Jackie, who had been sat quietly on her bed listening, speaks up. “Us,” she almost whispers. “I didn’t tell you to protect you. If anybody’s next, it’s Barbara and I.”

Barbara sobs. “Oh god…”

Matt shakes his head. “Michael all but ignored you two, and they’re laser-focused on him. It’s us they’ll keep coming for. Us, and… Oh fuck…”

“Lindsay,” Alfredo gasps. He throws himself at the bars. “Matt! Did you mention Lindsay when they interrogated you? Did you tell them who Michael is to them?!” Matt’s head droops. It’s all the confirmation Alfredo needs. “Fuck!” he snarls.

“Surely they wouldn’t. Right?” Matt asks, though his voice already sounds hopeless.

They bring Trevor back about ten minutes after Matt arrived. When they leave him in his cell, he lies crumpled on the floor like a broken man. There is blood coating the hair of one of his ears and maybe a clump of fur missing from his tail. But that clearly isn’t what bothers him. He lies on the floor cradling his left arm.

Matt can’t look, not knowing that Trevor’s treatment is his fault. He turns his head and stares at the corner of his cell, as if suddenly the scratch on the floor is very intriguing.

Barbara whispers to Trevor’s broken form, “Trey? What happened? What did they do to you?”

He whimpers, pulling his arm closer to his chest. Barbara doesn’t realise that he’s not simply trying to rise, that he’s trying to protect his arm. When she lays a hand on his elbow, he winces back. “NO!” he wails.

Barbara gives a hushed apology. “They hurt you?” she presses.

A scent reaches Alfredo’s nostrils. A horrid scent, like something is burnt. Burnt flesh, he realises. “Trevor, what did they do to you?”

Trevor sits back against the bars furthest from Barbara. He tosses a pitiful look at Alfredo, gulps, and twists his arm towards him.

Alfredo doesn’t look for long. The flesh of Trevor’s inner forearm is horribly burnt and blistered in multiple places. Branded. Worse, Alfredo recognises the shapes of the wounds. They are letters, though he doesn’t want to look for long enough to decipher the word branded on Trevor’s arm. He can’t imagine that it says anything particularly pleasant anyway.

As soon as Alfredo winces and turns his head, Trevor turns his arm again and hides it away. He blinks back more tears and says, “It’s permanent.”

“Branded,” Alfredo snarls, a low growl coming from his throat. He can’t bear to look at Trevor or his wound any longer, so he channels his sympathy into anger. “They branded him!”

His words send shudders through Matt, who only now dares to look at Trevor. His jaw clamps shut, and he looks away again, cursing himself.

“Animals,” Barbara growls. Trevor winces at her voice and spills a tear. Softer, Barbara says, “We can cover it up. Wait just a moment.” She hurries to her bed, pulls up a corner of the thin blanket over it and tears a strip away. When she returns to the bars separating her from Trevor, she offers it out to him. “Use this.”

Cautiously, Trevor makes his way back over to her and sits on the corner of his bed. He takes the bandage in his right hand, smiles as best he can and thanks her quietly. But when he lays it over his wound, he winces and accidentally throws the bandage back at her.

“You want me to do it?” she asks as she catches it. Trevor gives a stiff nod, then holds his left arm towards her with the wound still facing him. He catches sight of the word and whimpers again, earning him a sympathetic sigh from Barbara.

Carefully, she reaches through and lays the bandage around his arm. He hisses in response, gripping his bed with white knuckles, and flinches. As he does, Barbara catches sight of the first few letters of the brand.

“Oh my god…” she breathes. “Trevor… I’m so sorry.”

“Just do it,” he begs. “I don’t want to…” He chokes off.

“Okay, just hold still.” Barbara wraps the bandage tight around his wound and ties it off. “Is that covered?”

Trevor dares to look. To his relief, the whole brand is safely shielded at least from his eyes. There’s nothing Barbara can do for the burning pain in his flesh though. That he must still try to ignore. He nods to her and gives her a pained smile. It is pitiful and does little to reassure Barbara, only cause greater concern.

“That’s good," she says regardless. "Your ear? Is it alright?”

Trevor reaches up to his ear. He winces as he touches it, and his fingers come away slightly stained in blood. “Just a cut,” he murmurs, “It will heal.” But the brand won’t, the following silence seems to say. That will haunt him, mock him, for the rest of his days.

He nestles himself into his bed as gently as he can, facing away from the bars and once again cradling his arm. Barbara crumples onto her own with her head in her hands. Matt still can't even look in Trevor's direction. Alfredo sits against Jackie's cell and watches Trevor's unmoving form in concern. This is a man who, at least by hybrid standards, grew up without hardship. Even since the world truly turned on hybrids, Trevor had it better than others. His mother kept him hidden - he had a home and far more security than others. He even knew comfort. Yet despite this, Trevor was often the one that Alfredo looked to for support. He was the one spirit that Alfredo was convinced could never be broken. But the man he now sees is defeated - there is no fight left in him. Trevor makes no noise, but his body shudders with silent, choked sobs. To be proven wrong so suddenly and so brutally hurts more than any woundthe humans could inflict on Alfredo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad about this one. I don't think I'm happy with myself for doing that to Trevor and honestly I debated posting it or skipping this one, but screw it, I've written and re-written so much of this fic now and this is one of the few chapters where I'm actually happy with the writing.


	15. Chapter 15

Others! _Others!_ Jeremy can’t get the word out of his head. _Others!_ For the first time since they lost Matt, Trevor, Alfredo and Lindsay, he feels happy. Better than happy, _elated!_ Hopeful!

And on top of that, the reassurance that at least Trevor and Matt are alive and physically unharmed, as well as hundreds of other hybrids, as Michael reports. Enough to save their kind, certainly, if they can free them. And while Michael naturally worries for Lindsay’s safety without any guarantee, Jeremy reassures himself that if Matt and Trevor and so many others are okay, Alfredo and Lindsay are probably okay too.

Jeremy paces the cabin with a wide grin as he lulls over the possibilities. What will the other hybrids be like? What will their heritages be? Could there even be another chinchilla?! Unlikely, he thinks, though he can’t help but wonder. And how prepared are they? Do they have a plan? Are they better equipped? Better positioned? Do they have a better plan to evacuate the hybrids once they are saved?

Michael, on the other hand, does not share Jeremy’s optimism. He sits on the beams above the couch in the same usual silence that the others have grown so accustomed to, with his tail, as usual, hanging down and flicking in agitation. Nobody blames him. Jeremy wouldn’t be surprised if the only way to see a smile on Michael’s face again would be to reunite him with Lindsay.

Geoff sits in the kitchen. Any reassurance of the existence of others has long since worn off for them both, with their minds set back on the impossible task that faces them.

Geoff has a closed book before him – he had attempted to read to pass the time but found keeping his mind focused far too difficult and gave up. Truthfully, he can’t even focus on the plight his captured friends may be enduring either – while ever Gavin is out of his sight, he worries for him above all else. But Trevor was right, as was Alfredo, and even in their absence, Geoff must concede to them both, as much as everything in him wants to hold Gavin back and keep him safely out of human hands, more than he could do for the others.

Roughly an hour after they arrived back at the cabin, Jack slips through the door. He had been outside chopping firewood, and in his arms, he cradles a few cut logs. “They’re here,” he announces.

Jeremy sprints to the window instantly. He watches as Gavin and a young woman with great, colourful wings land in the snow, and behind them, two vehicles painted white pull up outside. Hybrids of all kinds jump out of the cars, and Jeremy can’t help but stare at them in awe.

Geoff waits by the door to greet their new allies. Jack and Jeremy hover back, and Michael swings down from his perch to wait behind the counter. Gavin enters first with the other winged hybrid right behind him – he introduces her to Jeremy as Meg. After her come her companions – eight in total, most just as eager and nervous as Jeremy feels. He shakes each and every hand as they enter, and one of them, a tall man with red hair, small, round red ears and an exceptionally fluffy red tail, even hugs Jeremy and calls him ‘brother’. Some of them introduce themselves to Jeremy, but in the rush of excitement, by the time he has met the last, he has forgotten almost every name.

“Guys,” Gavin says to the new group, “This is Geoff, Jack, Jeremy, and over there is Michael.”

“A pleasure to meet you all,” says the bison hybrid, a man roughly as old as Geoff with dark brown hair and brown bovine ears. “My name is Burnie. And this is Blaine, Chad, Fiona, Caiti, Larry, Steffie and Kat.” He goes down the line, from a giant of a man with tall golden horse ears and a blond tail, to a young woman with warm brown skin and a red beanie that covers any inclination of her heritage, to a woman closer to Jeremy’s age who, fitting with her name, has the russet-coloured pointed ears and flexible tail of a cat.

The red-headed squirrel hybrid who had embraced Jeremy, Chad, speaks next. “We heard you had a human problem?”

“They took two of our own recently,” adds Caiti, a petite woman with the heritage of a quoll, giving her thin brown ears within her similarly-coloured straight hair, and a thin, furry, long tail. Her hands clasp together over her stomach while her eyes cast down – she is still mourning the capture of her friends.

“If you guys are ready to hit them, then we’ll help in any way we can,” Burnie says.

Geoff extends a hand out to Burnie, who seems to be their natural leader. Their hands clasp and shake, and the two nod to each other in unity and understanding. “Thank you,” Geoff tells him.

“Shall we get to work?” Burnie asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a shorter one this time - I've had a hell of a week and it was either a short chapter or who knows how long until I could sit down and write a decent amount. So I guess this is less like a chapter and more like a tease of what's to come and who's going to play a part.


	16. Chapter 16

“We didn’t see much,” Michael admits. The hybrids are gathered around the kitchen table, huddled close due to the limited space. Only Gavin stands away from the others by the window, watching the frozen world outside for any sign of movement. Michael continues, “There are cameras, but no evidence that anybody is manning them constantly.”

“Better to assume that they are than discover it the hard way,” Burnie says. There are murmurs of agreement.

“I did find two of our friends who were recently captured, though. Trevor told me as much as he could before the guards came back. Lucky for us, he says security is surprisingly light. They patrol the cells four times a day – twice during sunlight, and twice at night. Not all guards have keys but those that do hold skeleton keys for all the cells.”

“So we find one key and we can free everyone?” Caiti, a petite quoll hybrid, asks.

Geoff shakes his head. “There could be hundreds, if not thousands of hybrids in there, and we’ll need to work fast. One key won’t be enough. We need as many as we can safely get our hands on.”

“Did Trevor tell you anything about where most keys will be? Any discerning uniform for the carriers?” Jack asks.

Michael shakes his head. His tail flicks in agitation. “Nothing. He didn’t tell me anything like that. But he did give us some good news. Guards carry guns, but they’re not loaded with bullets. They have a non-lethal approach. They’ll fire darts at us. Trevor said the darts were as painful as getting shot with a bullet, but the worst they will do is temporarily disable us. I think he was speaking from experience here.”

“Not to be a downer,” Chad interjects, “But I missed the good news.”

“Our lives aren’t in danger,” Blaine says. “Low bar for ‘good news’, but fuck it, with our lot, I’ll take it.”

“And if we can get one of their weapons, we can safely fire back. We can escape without fatalities,” Jeremy adds. “If nothing else, it will stop our species’ reputation from falling any lower.”

“Lower than despised and outlawed?” Larry asks. He gives a sad chuckle. “Wouldn’t _that_ be amazing?”

“Anything else from Trevor?” Burnie asks Michael.

“A lot of the obvious. He told us we should be able to find enough supplies for everyone somewhere. He told us to make sure Fredo got a gun. Fredo’s one of ours, insane marksman. Trevor showed me where his cell is, but he wasn’t there at the time.” Michael clenches his jaw and digs his claws into the table as he adds, “And he told me he had no idea where Lindsay is.”

“I didn’t find Lindsay either,” Jack says solemnly. “They could be anywhere.”

“And there’s no good reason for them to separate them.” Michael hisses. “No good reason, unless…”

“Unless what?” Geoff asks.

Michael’s claws drag across the table. “Unless they killed them.”

“I doubt that, Michael,” Jack says.

“Then what the fuck else is there, Jack?! Why the hell isolate Lindsay over any of the others?!”

“They’ve gone out of their way to avoid killing any hybrids, as far as we’ve seen. Darts, tranquiliser, cells. You said Trevor and Matt were physically fine, yeah? And Fredo is probably physically okay too if Trevor can be believed. So why the hell would they kill Lindsay?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Michael hisses, “Maybe it was an accident, who fucking knows?”

“Easy, Michael,” Geoff says calmly, “I don’t believe they're dead. I’m sure they're okay. But it is strange that they isolated them, and we’ll make finding them a priority.”

“How?!” Michael snaps. “That place is huge, and worse, they have our two best hunters locked up in there. Lindsay was one of them!”

“Right, and now you’re our best.”

Michael snarls to himself. “Not the right kind. I rely on vision and audio – almost useless when there’s locked doors everywhere. Sure, my sense of smell is better than most of yours, but it isn’t half of what Lindsay or Fredo’s is. I won’t find them any faster than you guys would.” He sighs and shakes his head, glaring at his own claw marks. They’re not the first he’s left on this table, but they are prominent new additions. He can almost hear Trevor complaining about them.

Geoff’s heart sinks for him, so he doesn’t press further. Instead, he looks around the table for an alternative. “Jack?”

Jack frowns and shakes his head. “I’m out of practice, and even if I wasn’t, I could never match Lindsay or Fredo.”

“But you know where your Fredo should be, right?” Meg asks. “If we get him out early, he and you, Michael, can track Lindsay while the rest of us free the other hybrids.”

“I don’t like it,” Burnie interjects. “I don’t like relying on anyone or anything who isn’t already around this table.”

“Hey!” Gavin calls from the door.

“Sorry, around this table or over there. Anyway, by the sounds of it, we can’t be sure your Fredo will even be where he should be, nor in the right state of mind to help anyone. And then what?”

“Then we let him out anyway and I’ll find Lindsay alone,” Michael growls, “But he’s our best shot at finding my fiancée quickly and quietly. As far as we know, he’s the only hybrid in there that is both an experienced tracker and familiar with Lindsay's scent.”

“So we get in there, take out whatever security they have, get a key, free Alfredo, and Trevor and Matt too if you say they’re close together, and then you guys can break off and search for Lindsay while the rest of us free the other hybrids and look for supplies?” Jeremy repeats.

“What about our guys?” Fiona asks. “They’re not trackers, but they’ll be useful to us. They’re both good fighters.”

“We don’t know who or where they are,” Jack counters, “But as soon as it’s safe, some of you can break off to look for them too.”

“Hang on, hang on,” Larry interrupts, “How are we getting in again?”

Geoff is the one to answer. “Stealth. It’ll have to be. Though the last plan won’t work a second time, so no disguises.” Then, more to himself, he mumbles, “Honestly I’m amazed it worked the first time.”

“I can lead them away,” Meg suggests. “Bait. I mean, how many of them followed Gavin and I before? Dozens of them? There can’t be so many that stay behind. Maybe if they see me, it’ll open the place up for you guys?”

Burnie shakes his head. “Too risky.”

“And going in there isn’t? They can’t hit me; they couldn’t even hit Gavin. No offence, Gavin.”

“Eh, none taken. But I could go with you again and split off from you. Not so much that we can’t see each other, but enough to split the shots. We can divert half the fire away from each other – odds of them hitting one of us fall even more.”

As Gavin speaks, he watches Geoff, expecting him to speak up in protest and shoot his idea down entirely. But while Geoff is certainly listening, he says nothing. “Geoff?” Gavin asks.

With a sigh, Geoff nods. “Okay.”

“Wait, really?! You trust me?”

“Yeah. I mean, no, but… What choice do I have? Better in the sky than in that place with me. You’ll pull it off unscathed somehow.”

Gavin’s face flushes red as he grins to himself. Geoff trusts him enough to take his own role, and even face danger, and _fly_. He hasn’t felt such pride in himself for years. With a small smile concealed from the others, he turns back to the door.

“We’ll need weapons,” Burnie says, redirecting attention to the task ahead, “We can have all our equipment brought here within a day. You think you guys can have everything you have ready by tomorrow?”

“We’ll be ready,” Jack says.

“Good. Because I don’t want to lose a single other friend to these bastards.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically Ready Set Show

Help doesn’t come the next day as planned. Help doesn’t even come within the week. Hardly possible, they assumed, under the double guard that seems to be patrolling the place since Jack and Michael’s successful infiltration. None of them say it, but it has crossed everyone’s mind that maybe they never even got out.

The days and nights that pass begin to blur together. After a few of them, the captured hybrids begin to default to their instinctive sleep schedules. Both Trevor and Matt sleep later and wake later until they rise at lights out and sleep by first light. Alfredo begins to sleep in shorter bursts, with 3 – 5 hour periods over noon and early afternoon and midnight and early morning, so that he is always awake and alert at dusk and dawn.

They each found it a comfort to default to the sleep schedules that they had denied themselves for so long, one of the few comforts that the humans allowed them. It is of course cheapened by the fact that the humans are only allowing this because it is another step away from humanity and a step closer to being just animals, but it isn’t worth the fight or the pettiness to resist anymore.

Trevor often wakes from his sleep screaming and gasping. Not out of pain, though his arm certainly did still cause a considerable measure of pain, but out of terror. Nightmares like he had never known now plague his sleep every day. Whenever he wakes like this, and it is always at least once per day, Barbara takes his hands and speaks softly to him until he calms, and Alfredo, if awake or awoken, offers soothing words of optimism. He quickly found that Trevor was most easily soothed by speaking of dreams for the future, and so Alfredo always falls back to those dreams.

Over time, the two of them built a detailed world that they longed for, and they discussed where they would live, and what hobbies they would take up. For Trevor, he wanted to learn everything he could. He’d buy a telescope for the stars and scour the internet and any book he could get his hands on, thirsting for knowledge. He may even try his hand at a university. For Alfredo, he would find a place in a city and surround himself with people. People that, they dreamed, would be accepting, perhaps even warm towards hybrids, for in their dream world, humans would not only permit their existence but co-exist and strive together. After this, Trevor would fall asleep again clutching onto the idea of their wonderful world that could so easily be possible, until he is swallowed by the next nightmare.

During their waking hours, their torture does not end, though it is never so explicit as Trevor’s branding. Patrolling guards often hit the bars of both Matt and Trevor’s cells, having now identified the two of them as jumpy and easily frightened. Alfredo soon stopped tormenting or provoking the guards, for they latched on to the idea that the best way to torment him would be to target others. They weren’t wrong, especially having now seen the lengths to which they could and would go to cause harm.

As food is generally delivered during the daytime, Trevor often wakes to find his food already placed within his cell. On this occasion, rather than the usual slop of meat and undercooked vegetables, he finds a cup in its place. He grunts, sniffs at it lazily, then drags himself out of bed to investigate. Within it, he finds a strange grey mixture, ridden with little black spots.

“What is it?” he asks no one in particular.

“We were wondering the same thing,” Barbara says.

Alfredo crinkles his nose. “It stinks though.”

Trevor takes a quick sniff at the liquid, expecting something foul. What he instead finds is an unusual scent, an earthy scent that he doesn’t find familiar, but not a _bad_ scent. “They want me to drink this?”

“Presumably. If you even can.”

Trevor simply shrugs, brings the cup to his lips and throws the liquid to the back of his throat. He’d much rather bite the bullet now than face the humans when they return and find a full glass.

It slides down his throat and he swallows easily enough. The texture is bizarre and much thicker than it first appeared, and if he is honest to himself, it doesn’t taste so bad either. It’s hardly a delicious chocolate milkshake, but overall, it is preferable to the slop that is has replaced.

Watching Trevor drink it has Alfredo covering his nose and mouth and gipping. Even Barbara turns her head away and mutters, “Trevor, no, that’s gross.”

“It’s okay,” he says, licking his lips, “It’s really not that bad.”

“You have no idea what was in that!” Barbara protests.

Trevor shrugs. “And you know exactly what they’re feeding you?”

“At least whatever they feed us doesn’t smell like… _that_,” Alfredo mutters through his hand which still firmly shields his nose.

Trevor examines the remnants of his breakfast in the cup. There are short black streaks along the side of the cup, probably the black spots that he had noticed earlier. “Hey, Barb,” he says, taking the cup to her, “Do those look like hairs to you or something?”

She tries to look, but the smell of the cup repulses her and she has to lean away, gip, then return with her nose covered. She examines it as closely as she dares, then her eyes grow wide and she jumps back and gips again. “TREVOR, THOSE ARE INSECT LEGS!”

Trevor drops the cup instantly and recoils until he is leaning against the wall, supporting himself with his good arm. Despite the liquid tasting fine, even feeling fine as he drank it, he retches as his body tries to desperately to reject it and _get it out_.

“Trevor, no, keep it down,” Barbara cries, “This is just another one of their sick tests. They’re looking for reasons to punish you – do not throw up everywhere! You’ve done the worst part, just keep it down!”

“I can’t… I can’t…” he groans.

“Deep breaths, Trev,” Alfredo says. Trevor tips his head back and does his best to slow his breathing. “That’s it. You good?” Alfredo asks. Trevor nods his head, then pushes off the wall and shakes his head in disgust. Behind him, his tail flickers in his discomfort.

“Insects…” he groans. “Why insects? Why _me_?!”

“You’re an anteater hybrid.”

Trevor gips again. “I hate insects.”

“Apparently not,” Barbara says.

“Ugh… blended ants. Very funny.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I didn't think I would post this section, it was just a little thing I wrote after watching Trevor and Jeremy eat too many gross things on Ready Set Show, made me wonder would hybrid anteater Trevor enjoy eating insects? Watching Philip W. Pickles and how much he loved eating those pickle products on ExtraLife yesterday reminded me of this segment and I realised I hadn't updated this story in ages (or anything in almost a month, I have been beyond busy recently) and thought fuck it, I'll share this bit. So yeah :)


	18. Chapter 18

Geoff lays in the snow some distance away from the base with binoculars to his eyes. Beside him, Gavin narrows his eyes. With his heightened vision, he has no need for binoculars of his own.

“I think the security’s dropped again. Still more guards than there was that day, but not as many as last week,” Gavin comments.

“How many do you think will chase you away?” Burnie asks him.

“No way to say. Not all of them. Maybe half, if we’re lucky.”

“And that will leave about two dozen inside the gates for the others to fight through,” Burnie mumbles.

“And who knows how many inside the base itself,” Meg adds. She wears a white hooded cloak around her shoulders to camouflage her bright wings and hair. Gavin envies her; maybe if he had one he wouldn’t have to lie in the icy snow.

“It’s the best we can ask for. Infiltrated once, they’ll never drop security again.” Geoff pats Gavin’s shoulder. “Be ready, Free. On my signal, yeah?”

Gavin offers a weak smile and nods. “Your signal, boss.”

“And be careful, for fuck’s sake, won’t you?”

Gavin rolls his eyes. “When am I ever not careful?”

“You want a list?” Geoff asks. Gavin grins, and Geoff’s worry melts into a small smile. “I mean it, Gavin. Take care of yourself.”

“You too,” Gavin says.

Geoff rises and nods to Burnie, who gives Meg a brief hug and then begins to trudge back towards the others. Geoff follows, but pauses at Meg’s side to whisper: “Watch out for him, won’t you?”

Meg giggles. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring him back with not a hair on his head harmed and not a feather out of place.”

“You’ll have to get them in place first,” Geoff quips. He wishes her good luck and catches up to Burnie.

“They’ll be fine,” Burnie says once they are out of earshot. “I have every faith in Meg. She’s talented, and no coward. Gavin is in safe hands.”

“You underestimate Gavin,” Geoff retorts.

Burnie doesn’t reply. He’s not entirely sure how much of the statement was a joke. Rather, after a short while of tense, nervous silence, Burnie raises his voice again. “That Michael of yours, the cat. Do you trust him?”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t know him,” Burnie admits. “I’ve tried to get to know you all, but Michael wanted nothing to do with me. I understand what’s at stake for him, but… He just seems so full of fire and rage; even when he was sleeping, he was tense, and you’re giving him a gun?”

“That gun isn’t for him,” Geoff reminds him. “I trust him. He has self-control when he really needs it, and he’ll do anything for Lindsay. They’re a good influence on him. Inside he’s actually quite a softie, beneath all the swearing and the shouting and the claws. He has a big heart.”

“Anyone ever been on the wrong side of those claws?” Burnie asks.

Geoff smirks to himself at a memory. “Once or twice, nothing serious. Biggest victim is all the furniture.”

“That I noticed,” Burnie comments.

They walk in silence until they reach the rest of their group. Most of them are huddled within one of the two cars they brought until their leaders return. Michael is sat on the hood of one of the cars wearing his usual scowl, and Jack is stood by his side talking to him. The others jump out at the sight of Burnie and Geoff. Michael slides off the hood to stand beside Jeremy who, for once, has lost his usual enthusiasm in place of nerves. Still, never one to back down, Jeremy steels himself and nods to Geoff.

“They’re in position,” Burnie announces. “If everyone’s ready, we’ll get started.”

At last, the sign Gavin had been waiting for comes. Far away he watches as a thin branch falls from one of the trees. Without his enhanced vision, he would have missed it, and the humans in the base most certainly would have.

Gavin nods to Meg. She casts her cloak off and her magnificent wings rise over her head. “Catch me if you can,” she teases Gavin with a wink. Her wings swoop down, lifting her from the ground and showering snow over her surroundings, including Gavin. Despite his nerves, Gavin rises to Meg’s challenge and leaps into the air after her with less grace but just as much enthusiasm.

They climb higher and higher until they can see for miles and miles. Once they begin to glide over the woods, Meg uses her bright wings to her advantage, stretching them wide for as long possible. “When they come,” she calls back to Gavin, “It would be great if you could pretend to fall. It’ll make you look startled, and harder to hit for a little while. Can you catch yourself mid-fall?”

“I swear I’m always falling,” Gavin says. “I think I could.”

“Well, we’ll find out,” Meg says, nodding back towards the base. “They’re coming. Do you see them?”

Gavin narrows his eyes. He does see small movements on the ground and trails in the ground behind them. The humans are better camouflaged this time. “I see them.”

“All white outfits. How cute,” Meg mocks. “Let’s just hope the others saw them. Come on; they don’t know we’ve seen them. If we lead them east, we can keep them out in the open longer.”

“Lead the way,” Gavin instructs.

“How many left to pursue?” Geoff asks Michael, who is still perched in the tree with his eyes narrowed ahead.

“Twelve, by my count,” Michael says shortly with a hiss under his voice.

“Not enough. Not nearly enough…” Geoff comments. He rubs his forehead and groans.

Jack places his hand on Geoff’s shoulder. “Should we call it off?”

“_Call it off?!_” Michael seethes, snapping his head around to them. “We can’t give up here! We’ll never get another shot like this!”

“He’s right,” Geoff says with a quiet, strained voice. His ear flickers repeatedly with his agitation. “We can’t just keep coming and going. Their defences will only get stronger and we’re never going to be more prepared. It’s not ideal, but we need to press on. Get in position, Michael.” He turns and signals to the group with a nod.

Jeremy, Chad, Fiona, Caiti and Kat separate from the rest to follow Michael. Those that are left behind wait behind the truck. Geoff gives the others a chance to get into position, then he opens the driver’s seat, begins the engine, repositions the steering wheel slightly and releases the clutch. “Trevor will never forgive me,” he murmurs to himself as he accepts a brick from Jack. He throws it onto the accelerator, then dives to safety.


	19. Chapter 19

Jackie moans as she drags her head up and squints her eyes open, disoriented and confused by being awoken. She can’t tell what time it is, but the lights are still bright, so daytime. No food is waiting for her, so before noon, but beside her cell, Alfredo is asleep already, so probably not early morning either.

Of course, the light isn’t what woke her up. For a few moments, she isn’t entirely sure what did, until she realises there is a distant, repeated sound. Suddenly curious, she sits up and pivots her ears towards the door. It sounds like an alarm.

She reaches through the bars to Alfredo’s shoulder and begins to gently shake him. “Fredo!” she whispers urgently. “Fredo!”

“…Hm?” he groans. His eyes don’t open, but he does roll slightly.

“Do you hear that?” Jackie asks.

Alfredo moans and pulls the blanket over his head and presses his ears down in his hair with his arm. From beneath the blanket, Jackie hears a half-conscious mumble: “It’s too early to hear things.”

Jackie shakes him again, more violently this time. “Fredo, I mean it! Something’s happening! Alfredo!”

The blanket shifts and lifts just enough for Alfredo to squint up at her with one eye. When he sees her worried expression, his ears perk up and he rolls to look up at her with both eyes. “What’s happening?”

“You don’t hear it?”

Alfredo raises an eyebrow in confusion but says nothing. His head turns towards the door and his ears point directly at it. “What is that?”

“An alarm, I think,” Jackie replies.

“It’s far.”

“I think it’s outside.”

“Why nothing in here?”

“I don’t know,” Jackie says. “Maybe there’s nothing wrong in here.”

Alfredo turns back to her with a mischievous smile. “Or maybe we weren’t supposed to hear it.”

Jackie smirks. “Well, my mistake.” Then she gasps and her eyes widen as her ears perk up again. “You don’t think…?”

Alfredo shrugs. “I don’t know. But better prepared, right?” Jackie nods, and Alfredo calls across to the opposite cell: “Trevor!”

As soon as the impact comes and a blaring alarm rings in his ears, Michael takes a run-up, then pounces, kicking and clawing his way up the wall until he is able to catch the top with a single hand. He heaves himself up, belly against the brick as he keeps low, and casts his eyes over the courtyard.

Opposite him, the smouldering remains of Trevor’s truck. It had just about made it through the gates before the engine was thoroughly damaged and left to pour thick black smoke into the air. Truly, Trevor will be livid.

The humans are distracted, at least. He reaches down to where Jeremy gives Fiona a boost. Michael catches her hand, drags her up beside him and lets her down quietly on the other side. Next comes Caiti, then Kat, then Chad, and he remains beside Michael to catch and hoist over Jeremy. The three drop into the courtyard, grunting as they land hard on their legs, then Michael points.

One man remains to guard the entrance. Armed, as expected, but manageable. Michael positions himself around the corner, nods to Jeremy, then reaches around and grabs him. Jeremy grabs the gun while Michael covers the mouth and restrains him from behind, with some assistance from the others.

Once Jeremy has the weapon secured and tucked away safely, his attention shifts back to the man. Only the sight he sees is deeply disturbing. Michael’s pupils are beginning to look slit, just like a cat’s, in a way that Jeremy has never seen before. Worse, his claws are extended again, crushing into the man’s cheek so hard that blood pours down his jaw and neck.

“_Michael!_” Jeremy hisses as quietly as he can. He hates the way Michael’s furious gaze flickers onto him, but Jeremy’s voice and expression grounds him again. Michael’s claws retract and he closes his eyes until the guard stops moving. When he drops him, Caiti winces at the wound, but Michael doesn’t spare the man another thought. His mind is fixed on one person only. He throws a quick gesture behind him to follow and presses on, not even bothering to wait for Jeremy to hide the unconscious body and change into his clothes.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Jack complains through exhausted breaths, “I _hate_ this plan.”

Geoff doesn’t have the patience for Jack’s concerns, so he just pushes him on through the woods. “Just run! We just need to buy them time!”

“Are they even following?” Jack asks. Nobody dares to look back to answer.

To their left, Geoff can see Gavin and Meg still ‘fleeing’. But the alarms set off haven’t called the humans back. No, instead Geoff begins to hear gunshots. His legs almost buckle there and then, and they may well have done if Burnie didn’t grab him and drag him on.

“They’re shooting,” he cries, “They’re shooting at Gavin!”

“They’re fine,” Burnie growls, “They’ll be fine. If they’re smart, they’ll get out of there. Gavin seems like a smart kid to me.”

“He’s got you fooled – he’s an idiot!”

“That’s not true, Geoff, and you know it,” Jack pants.

“Just focus on the plan, Ramsey. He’ll be fine – he’s got Meg up there with him,” Burnie adds.

Geoff grits his teeth as he runs, cursing himself for ever agreeing to any plan with Gavin as bait. Anyone but Gavin, who can scarcely fly. He watches Gavin flail through the air, no doubt screeching that way he always does. He might have been able to hear it if not for the ever-blaring alarm.

“Get out of there, Gav,” he growls under his breath, “Get out of there. Get out of there!”

Michael’s foot is tapping even faster than his tail is flickering in annoyed, impatient anticipation of Jeremy. When the chinchilla hybrid does finally descend down to meet them, now disguised as a human soldier with his tail tucked around his waist and his ears hidden beneath a cap, Michael could almost hiss at him.

“You need to fucking relax, man. You’re scaring me,” Jeremy tells him.

Michael’s eyes narrow. “I’ll _relax_ when I see them.”

Jeremy rolls his eyes. At least the alarm isn’t so loud down here. “Alright. Lead on,” he concedes, before murmuring to himself, “Before you go fucking feral…”

“I can hear you, asshole,” Michael whispers back at him, with a definite hiss behind it that sends a shudder down Jeremy’s spine.

Uneasy, Fiona, Caiti, Kat and Chad follow Michael, and Jeremy brings up the rear, keeping as much distance between him and Michael as possible. Michael has always had a tentative hold over his hybrid instincts – worse than anybody else by far. Jeremy was never sure whether that was because they are so powerful, or because of Michael’s flaring temper. What he can’t deny, however, is the way Lindsay’s presence impacts him. It has been a rough time for Michael without them, and Jeremy feels that with every hiss and every irritated flick of his tail.

But at least they are almost there. Lindsay is here somewhere, and even sooner than that, Jeremy will have Matt and Trevor back. As long as nothing goes wrong, Jeremy will have his family back.

It’s still a lot to hope for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep seeing people talking about an ah hybrid au revival on Tumblr. If it isn't obvious already, I'm all for it. I would read so fucking much of that. So anyway, thought I'd do my part and update this fic.


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